Best Friend of Mine
Summary: She smiles at me, but it hurt. She cares for me and it even more painful. She is my best friend and it makes me heartbroken even more. Ron POV. One sided RW/HG, BZ/HG, hint of DM/HP. Inspired by a Korean song by Kim Jong Kook, Don't be Good to Me.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter world belongs to JK Rowling and co. Don't be Good to Me belongs to Kim Jong Kook and co. I only own the plot.
Time frame: Two years after war, Harry and friends were about twenty or twenty one.
A.N. New one shot of mine, everybody! Strange thing is, Drarry is not the main pairing in this one. *gasp* There's still hint of them though, so all the homophobic and all the flamer, go away! Or read anyway and pretend there's no slash pairing in this. Anyway, Enjoy!
Best Friend of Mine
If your feelings are different from mine
When someone asks
I'll introduce you calmly
As just a person I know
Stop being good to me
Don't ever be good to me again
I get on my knees in front of love
I don't have the confidence to be hurt
~Don't be Good to Me, Kim Jong Kook~
You were my best friend. Had been since the first year of Hogwarts. We had been through a lot together. We fought together all along our Hogwarts years, helping Harry wiped out the darkness that always came again and again. We faced the war together. We survived the war together. And you were still my best friend.
You were my best friend. Even when I was being a git and refused to see and do the right thing. Even when I betrayed Harry and was angry when I thought you sided with him and betrayed me. You easily forgave me when I finally realized that I had been wrong. You easily forgave me when I came back, ashamed of what I had been done to you and Harry. And you were still my best friend.
You were my best friend. You scolded me when I did bad things. You praised me when I did a good job. You laughed at me when I was doing silly things. You laughed with me when we saw silly things. You cried for me when I lost my family. You cried with me when we mourned the one that lost. You screamed at me when I danger myself by doing foolish things. You screamed with me when we foolishly ran straight to danger. And you were still my best friend.
You were my best friend. When your presence was the only one that could brighten my day. When only with your smile, the world seemed to be a better place. When warmth spread to all of my body only because you pat my hands. When friendly hugs and kisses made my heart jumped out of my rib cage. But still, you were only my best friend.
You were only my best friend.
xxXXxx
The alarm of the floo rang loudly, disturbing me from my very pleasant dream. I blinked several times and rubbed my face to erase the sleep that still clouding my eyes. With a wave of my wand, numbers floating in the air showing the times to me in bright green lines. I groaned when I saw it was only half to six in the morning. I waved my wand once more to cancel the Tempus charm and stepped out of the bed lazily.
"Who in the bloody hell call me in this ungodly hour?" I mumbled to myself.
I walked to the living room of my little apartment where the fireplace was. I unlocked the ward around the fireplace, that I always put before I was going to sleep, to let whoever who tried to call me or visit me to go through my floo. I frowned when a bushy haired head appeared.
"Hermione?" I crouched my body in front of the fireplace to see her better.
"Hi Ron! Can I come through?" Hermione said with her ever present sweet smile. I returned her smile and stepped back to let her came through.
"Sure," I said.
I lead her to my kitchen and motioned her to sit in one of the chair in front of little dining table. I made two cups of tea and added some honey to her cup and three cubes of sugar with a splash of milk for me. "So, what bring you here this early in the morning?" I asked her when we had settled with our tea.
"Can't I visit my friend in his house?" she asked me back, grinning when I groaned and mumbled this early? to my hands. "Well, I'm sorry to wake you up, but I need something from you. And this is urgent!" she said with all the seriousness painted on her pretty face. Her warm brown eyes widened slightly, her pink petal lips pursed together, she even nodded once and fisted her hands in front of her to add the effect. I sighed tiredly. Somehow, I never won against her determined face since forever.
"Okay... So, in this unreasonable hour, what is the urgent thing I can do for you, Hermione?" Hermione's serious face disappeared and that cute pixie face of her split up with the huge grin that now adorned it.
"I know you will help me!" she said. "Well, here's the problem. You know that today is Blaise's birthday, right?" she asked me cheerfully. I felt my heart twisted painfully at the mention of her fiancee. But of course, I still planted a smile on my face and nodded. No matter hurt it was to remember that the girl that I loved for years had had a husband-to-be that she loved so much, that girl still my best friend.
"Of course I remember. You practically reminded me at every single hour about his birthday party yesterday," I teased her. She blushed prettily and slapped my hand that rested on the table.
"Shut it you! It's his twentieth birthday and it is the important stage of his life! He finally officially leaves his teenager life!"
"Right, right! Whatever you say, Hermione!" I laughed when she slapped my hand once more. "Okay, so, it's his important birthday. But what actually made you visit me in the crack of the dawn? I thought the party will be at seven in the afternoon?"
"Well, yes, the party is still in the afternoon. But, well, I suddenly have this idea to make some special breakfast for him and cook his favorite food. You know he's addicted with Weasley's blueberry muffin. I want to make it but I don't know how. So I thought to ask you for the recipe."
"You woke me up so early in the morning just to ask me for a muffin recipe?" I groaned.
"It's not like I could wake up your mum, Ron! And you know Ginny is in France for her show. George is still in his honeymoon and Bill's in his in-laws' place. Obviously, the only one available is you." She said defensively. I sighed dramatically and stood up.
"Only because you are my best friend, Hermione!" I said as I walked to the drawer in the living room for the recipe. Hermione giggled happily in the background. She didn't know how painful it was to say that she was only my best friend. Oh, how I wished things went differently. I gritted my teeth to bear the pain before faced her once more. I put a smile into my face and walked back to the kitchen.
"Here," I said as I put the parchment on the table. Hermione reached it and read it with her wide smile in place. She duplicated the recipe with a charm and stood up. She handed the original one to me.
"Thank you, Ronald!" she said and kissed my cheek. "I better go before Blaise wakes up."
I walked her to the fireplace. With goodbyes and obligatory good lucks, she disappeared. I threw my body to the couch and touched my cheek where she had kissed me. "Why did you do it to me, Hermione?"
The hole in my heart got bigger as it broken once more.
xxXXxx
Hogwarts, beginning of sixth year
The Golden Trio walked together down the street to Hogsmeade that week end. They had agreed to go to the Three Broomsticks as Harry asked them before in the Common Room. The raven haired boy said that he had something important to tell to his best friends. Why he should tell them in the Three Broomsticks and not in the Common Room, they couldn't be sure.
Entering the pub, Ron and Hermione were exchanging confused glances when Harry walked towards the Slytherin trio in the corner table. There were Draco Malfoy sat with his friends, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. The two Gryffindors were even more confused when Malfoy looked up at Harry and smiled at the Savior. The one that was shyly responded by Harry.
"Harry, why you.." Ron began to speak but was cut short when the Slytherin Prince stood up and held his hand up to Harry. Harry took the offered hand and sat beside the blonde, still hand in hand. He motioned his friends to the last two empty chairs.
"So, what do you want to talk about, Harry? Is this related to Malfoy?" Hermione asked when the silence between the six teenagers became rather unbearable. Harry glanced at the blonde as if to ask for his permission or encouragement to speak. The other boy smiled and nodded.
"Well... What I want to tell you is that... Umm..."
"We are dating, Granger," the blonde Slytherin said with his usual drawled tone when words failed Harry. Every single movement in the table was stopped abruptly at the statement. Hermione looked at Harry with wide eyes. Ron spluttered the butterbeer he just gulped a moment ago. Blaise Zabini almost smacked Pansy, who also stared at the pair with wide eyes, when he twisted his body to see better of the pair.
"Wha- what?" Ron said disbelievingly. "But... But... Harry, you never tell me you're gay! And, and, Malfoy?"
"Yes, Ron. What Draco told you is right. We are together. He is my boyfriend," Harry grinned when Draco grimanced. The blonde always thought that the term boyfriend was so plebian. He always made that face when Harry called him boyfriend. And Harry always called him that only because.
"Well," Hermione said. She was not too surprised to hear that Harry was dating Malfoy. She could see it before, actually. Harry was not that hard to read. "I am happy for you, Harry. Only, Malfoy, you hurt him and I kill you," she said with a sickeningly sweet smile and calm voice that made the threat all more frigtening for Draco.
The six of them spent the rest of the lunch time together. Hermione was busily calming the still pale faced Ron and Blaise talked to Pansy with hushed voice. While Harry and Draco tried to bridge the gap between suspicious Slytherins and the wary Gryffindor. In the end, Ron resigned to the fact that Malfoy indeed was Harry's boyfriend, Hermione and Pansy giggling madly to each other, and Blaise talked to the love birds while once in a while, took glances at the Gryffindor girl.
Lunch time was over and the six teenagers walked together towards the school. Harry and Draco walked in the front with Draco's arm around Harry's shoulder, talking to themself. Pansy furiously gossiping with Daphne Greengrass through the two way mirror cupped in her hands. Ron walked dazely behind her, still could not believe that his best friend was gay and dating their supposedly sworn rival.
"Hi," Hermione turned around to see that Blaise Zabini already walked in her side.
"Hello," she said politely.
"So," the Italian boy said a bit nervously. He offered her his hand. "I'm Blaise Zabini. Draco's best friend since he was still in the crib."
"Hermione Granger. It's a pleasure to meet you, Zabini," she took the offered hand and smiled.
"I think we will see each other very often from now on," he said, pointing his chin to Draco and Harry who laughed merrily at something or other. "So please call me Blaise."
"If you call me Hermione,"
"With pleasure," Blaise said as he kissed Hermione's hand. Hermione blushed and smiled a little wider at the gentlemanly behaviour of Blaise. That was when Ron turned around to see what had been staling Hermione. For whatever reason, his face was even paler than before.
xxXXxx
I looked up from the paper work I currently working when the door to my office opened. I nodded politely when I saw a blonde man stood in front of it. "Malfoy," I said. The blonde nodded back to me.
Once upon a time, I would send whoever told me that I would be in civil term with the former Slytherin to Azkaban without second thought. But, after Harry came out as a gay man and introduced Draco Malfoy, of all people, as his boyfriend in our sixth year, I learned to tolerate the git. It helped that Malfoy acted as a spy together with Snape and fought for the Light side of the war. Oh, and his brilliance at chess was also a great bonus. Not that I ever told him that.
"Weasley," he said with that drawled way of his. "Where's Harry?"
This was also the daily routine of us every day since Harry and I finished our basic training and finally became Junior Aurors two months ago. Every lunch time, Malfoy, who apprenticed as an Unspeakable, would come to me and Harry's joined cubicle. Then, they would go to lunch together. Sometimes, I joined them. But usually, I couldn't stand their shameless public displays of affection and preferred to have lunch with Seamus who also worked in the Ministry, Dean who was a freelance illustrator for some papers and magazines, and Neville who was currently in his Herbology apprenticeship program.
"He went to the loo. I think he will come back in a few." Malfoy nodded and seated himself on Harry's desk. I returned to my parchment and scribbled some more words to the report I had been working on before Malfoy spoke.
"Blaise told me that Granger made him a surprise breakfast for his birthday this morning," he said. I gripped my quill tightly. No need to remind me about that. I didn't need any more reminders that the girl I love loved somebody else. It felt like pouring lemon juice to the newly open wound. It hurt like Hell.
"So?" I asked him, trying to sound unaffected. It didn't work.
"Weasley..." something flashed in his grey eyes. It was pity. Sympathy. I gritted my teeth.
"I don't need your pity, Malfoy. She made him a birthday breakfast, so what? I already know she doesn't love me like I love her and I already told you, and all the others, that I'm okay with that. That it's enough for me to be her best friend," I said with softer and softer voice, trying to be convincing like always. But like always, even in my ears, it sounded false. "Really, it's enough that she's happy."
"Weasley, you need to move on. I don't think that she would leave Blaise in foreseeable future. Maybe she wouldn't ever. You can't live with this unrequited love forever, can you?" he said with that monotone indifferent voice of his, though I thought I heard a hint of concern there. I didn't like it. But I appreciated it. Really.
I was not surprised that Malfoy knew about my love interest; I knew that Harry had never kept anything from him after all. It was still disconcerting sometimes though, when he showed that he cared about others, moreover me. Maybe he cared about my well being because Harry was over worrying about me and voiced his worries to him every night, it drove him crazy. Maybe he truly thought me as his friend. Whatever the reason, it was nice to know that behind the stoic aloof mask of his, he was still human with feelings for the others.
I raised my face to look at him properly. He still stared at me with his cold grey eyes. I rubbed my face and sighed. "Really, Malfoy, I'm fine with my life as it is now. I don't know if I could stop loving her someday. What I know is that I love her and that feeling would not disappear from my heart anytime soon. It hurts to see her with Zabini. But I just want her happy and if being with him make her happy, then I'm okay," I said tiredly.
He raised his pale eyebrow in disbelieve. I knew he could see the pain from my eyes. But even if it was painful to feel like that and more painful to admit it out loud, I really meant what I said. If the only way to make Hermione happy was to torture my heart seeing her being with other guy, I'm perfectly okay with that.
Malfoy opened his mouth, no doubt to retort my statement. But I was saved by Harry's arrival. "Draco!" the raven haired man squealed happily as soon as he saw his boyfriend. He walked straight to the blonde and looped his hands around Malfoy's neck. Really, Harry could be such a girl around Malfoy, sometimes. The blonde automatically wrapped his hands around Harry's waist and gave him a small kiss on the lips. Harry hummed happily. It was also their customary greetings.
"Get a room, you two!" I said with mock disgust in my voice. I was just kidding, of course. I had already seen it millions times before that it no longer affected me. It still always gave me a pang of jealousy, though, their strong loves for each other. I always wanted that, someone to love and someone that loved me.
Harry laughed then and unlocked his hands only to link it with Malfoy's. "We're going to the newly opened Italian restaurant in Diagon Alley for lunch. Would you want to come with us?" he said cheerfully. I smiled and shook my head.
"You two go on by yourselves. I still have to finish this before two," I pointed to the paperwork and laughed when Harry scrunched his nose in disgust. He hated paperwork with passion. "I'll just order some sandwiches from the caf ."
"Okay then. I'll be back in an hour at most," Harry said as he dragged his boyfriend to the door. "Bye, Ron!"
I smiled and waved my hand as a good bye and intended to get back to my work. But Malfoy's expression held me. He frowned and looked at me with a hint of pity in his eyes. "If you only focused to only one locked door which may or may not open in the future, you wouldn't realize that there's another door that already opened and waited for you to come in," he said with soft tone.
I buried my face in my hands and groaned; trying so hard to hold back the tears.
I didn't know how long I already stood in front of that locked door and how much longer I would stood in front of it.
xxXXxx
Hogwarts, a week before Christmas break.
"Harry, do you know where Hermione is?" Ron asked the raven haired boy who was sitting in an armchair doing his assignment.
"Hermione? I'm not sure, but she went to somewhere half an hour ago. Maybe went to the library. Why do you ask?"
"I need her History notes," Harry ahh-ed at that. Before he had Draco Malfoy as a boyfriend, he too depended on Hermione's notes, especially History. But Draco was as much a model student as Hermione. So, he just asked for his boyfriend for notes. Easier that way. "I'll just go find her."
"Okay."
Ron walked through the corridor that would lead him to the library. The most likely place where he could find the bushy haired girl. He smiled to the familiar faces and nodded politely to the professors that he met on the way.
He began to scan the students that scattered around the room. He walked trough the rows of racks to find his friend. He saw Hermione sat alone in a table at the Potion section of the library. As usual, the girl was surrounded by heavy books and old thomes. He went to approach her and opened his mouth to greet her. His greetings was died in his mouth, however, when a handsome boy sat at the chair across Hermione.
"Here's the book. Draco said the information in this book is more complete," the boy said handed Hermione the old and rather thick book. Hermione took the book and read the title.
"I have never heard about this book..." Hermione wondered to herself. The Slytherin boy, Zabini, Ron recalled him as Malfoy's friend, grinned cheekily at her.
"Why, Hermione, surprise that there's a book in the library that you haven't read yet?" Hermione blushed.
"Oh, shut it you, Blaise!" that drew a rich laugh from the Italian boy and Hermione laughed with him after a minute. They looked so comfortable with each other and Ron didn't like it one bit.
xxXXxx
I sat on one of the tables at the pub Hermione had booked for her fiancee's birthday. I looked at the happy dancing couple in the middle of the dance floor. I sighed heavily and took a sip from my champagne glass. It was harder than I thought it would be, seeing them happily in love. It was clear as rain that Hermione loved the man who wrapped his hands around her slim waist tightly. It was also clear that that man, who was not me, worshiped Hermione and treated her like a princess. It hurt.
It hurt. Yet I couldn't tear my eyes off them.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. I saw Harry looming over me when I looked up. He offered me a small sad smile and sat beside me. He just sat there and didn't say anything for a while before sighed.
"They look happy together, don't they?" he asked me. I only could hum in response. I heard him sighed once more. "Draco told me about your conversation earlier. Don't you think he was right, Ron?"
"I don't know, Harry," I answered him tiredly. "I just... I just can't control my feeling, Harry. I just can't stop loving her no matter how hurt it is. I've tried. I've tried so hard to forget her, to move on. But... I just can't."
Harry sighed and threw an arm around my broad shoulder. "You deserve to be happy, Ron. Not wasting away like this," he said.
"I don't know, Harry. Like I told you, I've tried. It just didn't work." I burrowed my face in my hands.
"Oh, Ron," he said, his voice thick with sadness. "I'm sorry," I gave him a weak smile.
"Don't be," I said. He smiled back at me with equally sad smile.
We sat in silence for a while. Sipping our drinks once in a while. Lost in our own thoughts. I was back to consciousness when a hand waved in front of my face. "Hey! What's with somber looks? It's a party, have fun you two!" scolded Hermione that sat in front of us. "Harry, Draco's looking for you."
Harry stood up and offered us a smile. He left with a small wave of his hand. I looked at his departing back with a dreaded feeling in my stomach. I was left with Hermione alone. With this state of hearts, I couldn't face her alone.
"So, you don't look like enjoying the party, Ronald," Hermione said. "Is there something wrong?"
I groaned inwardly. This concerned voice of her that always weakened me. No matter how much times had passed since the first time we made friends, she never failed to shower me and Harry with care. Always be the first one who asked me, and Harry, how was our day. Always be the first who noticed there was something wrong with us. Always be the 'mother' of us both. Even now when she had Zabini to fuss over, she still took care of us like there was nothing changed. And it still made me fall deeper in love for her.
Oh, how it would be easier for her to just ignore me. Ignore me like I never exist in her life. Or hate me. Yes, it would be so much easier if she hated me instead.
"I'm okay, Mione. Just stress over this still unsolved case we are investigating now."
"Oh... But you really okay?" she asked me again, a worried lines marred her forehead. I nodded and smiled to reassure her. "Okay, then. Just forget your job for a while and enjoy the, okay? Go dance! Lavender has been stealing glances at you for a while now!" she whispered the last sentence.
I saw at where Lavender stood and managed to catch her "steal some glances" at me. I smiled at her and she blushed prettily. I remembered that she was really easy to blush when we used to be in a relationship. Hermione pulled me up and pushed me to my ex-girlfriend's direction.
"Go dance with her!" she said with a wink. She was gone to her boyfriend leaving me alone with my drink. I concentrated with my firewhiskey once more that I startled when Lavender sat in the chair across mine.
"Lav! You startled me." She only chuckled softly.
"How are you, Ron?" she asked. Her voice was as soft a I remembered. I smiled at her.
"As fine as I can be. How are you?"
"I'm okay. Still pinning over you, though," she said cheerfully, saying it as a joke. But I saw sadness in her eyes, that she really was still pinning over me.
I looked at her with guilt eat up my gut. She had been so kind, so loving. She had poured all her love to me, a man that gave his love to the other girl. She used to always be there for me. She cared me, she comforted me, she loved me. She was the one who picked all the pieces of my broken heart when Hermione announced her engagement. She was the one who hit me so hard when I lost in the world of alcohol numbness. She was the one who gave all of her heart for me. Me, who dated her just for a distraction from Hermione. Me, who couldn't even bring my heart to love her back one bit.
I didn't deserve her.
"I am sorry, Lavender. I really am," I said sincerely. She smiled at me sadly.
"Nothing to be sorry, Ron. I knew that you didn't love since the beginning, remember?"
"I do like you, Lav. It's just..."
"Your heart already belongs to someone else. I knew that. And I already told you that I was okay with that. To have a chance to love you was enough for me. To be there for you, to care for you. To be stand by your side as your girl friend, it was all that I could ask for. I am never sorry to pursue a realtionship with you, Ron. And when we broke up, I was sad, yes. I won't lie and say that it didn't hurt. But I'm happy that you care for me enough to give me a chance to find someone that trully love me. Not that it works though," she chuckled somewhat bitterly. It seemed like she really still loved me.
Why oh why couldn't I love her instead?
"You deserve someone better than me, Lav."
"That was what you said a year ago," she whispered, her eyes on the table. "Ron, I..."
"Yes?" I said when she failed to say whatever she wanted to say. She looked at me long and hard.
"Never mind. Just... Just remember that, that I always be here for you. That I always love you and be here waiting for you."
"Lavender..." she smiled and kissed me in the cheek where Hermione kissed me this morning. It left me with sweet but sad feeling.
xxXXxx
Hogwarts, One Year War Commemoration
Ron smiled as he listened to Lavender. The girl animatedly talked about her last shopping trip to France with her best friend, Parvati Patil. She listed all the clothes and accessories she bought. She fussed over the tuxedo he wore as she told him to take her go there again sometimes. Ron always thought that instead of annoying, Lavender's twittering was endearing and he didn't mind to listen to her all day.
Lavender had been his girlfriend for almost a year, now. Since the beginning of his Auror training. She was sweet, she was funny, and she was pretty. Truthfully, he didn't love her and had been agreed to date her to distract his mind from his heartbreak after Hermione agreed to be Zabini's girlfriend. He learned to love her like she loved him, but he couldn't. Oh, he liked her. So much. But just it. His heart just refused to love her like he loved Hermione.
Currently, they sat side by side on the one of the table for the dinner before the dance begin. Harry and Malfoy sat on the other side of the Hall, talking with the other ex-Slytherins. Ron didn't know where his other best friend was, though. She was disappeared after the Headmistress McGonagall said her speech. But that Zabini guy was also not there. He didn't have to be a genious to guess where those two were.
The Great Hall door opened in the middle of the dance, revealing a beaming Hermione and proud Zabini. Hermione pecked her boyfriend in the lips and walked toward Ron and Lavender. Zabini grinned at her and walked to the refreshment table to get some drinks for him and his girlfriend.
"Hi, Ron! Hi, Lavender!" Hermione greeted her two ex-Gryffindor fellows with an uncharastically cheerful voice. Ron and Lavender exchanged glances with each other in confusion.
"Hello, Hermione. You look so happy," Lavender said as waved to the dancing Draco and Harry.
"I am!" the bushy haired girl grinned so wide it looked hurt. "Guess what?"
"What?" Ron said to amuse her.
"I'm engaged!" she squealed happily. Some of the attendants around them cheered and offered the girl their congrats. Lavender looked at Ron warily. The said boy was incridibly pale. His eyes wide with shock and disbelieving. The love of his life had been engaged to another guy. It hurt. It really hurt. "Ron?" Hermione asked when the red haired boy failed to make a sound for another minutes.
"I... I have to go," he said. He turned around and ran as fast as he could out of the Hall.
"Sorry, Hermione. He's just... He is a little sick. Congratulation for your engagement, by the way," she smiled at Hermione and ran after her boyfriend. She knew that Ron was shocked and couldn't think well right now. She ran through the hallway to the Black Lake where she knew Ron would be. And there he was, crying his heart out behind a large rock on the shore.
"Oh, Ron..." she approached him and hug his prone form. The red haired boy turned around and burried his face on the girl's neck. Lavender let him cried on her and rubbed his back, murmuring all reassurance she could think of.
It hurt to see her love breaking apart like that. It hurt more to know that he was breaking apart because of another girl. But she gulped down her own feeling and gave all the comfort she could offer to him.
xxXXxx
I walked through the floo with a heavier heart than before the party. The talk with Lavender plaguing my mind. It even more burdened me than the announcement of Hermione's wedding that would be held next month. I sat on my bed, let my mind thought about it all. After a while, I walked towards my old Hogwarts trunks and took the rather large photo album of my Hogwarts day.
I opened the album and looked at the photos. It brougt back memories, it did. There were so many photos of me with Harry and Hermione, waving crazily. Some were photos of the other Gryffindors. Some of my family. And some with Lavender.
She was so pretty. With her shining blonde hair and large blue eyes. She was more free spirited than Hermione. More girly with her make ups, accesories, and all that. She loved fresh gossip more than new knowledge. She prefered new edition of Witch Weekly than dusty old tomes. She would choose sun bathing on the beach over working in the library. When I was still the Auror in training, she didn't mind that I spend my spare time with Quidditch and not doing my assignment like Hermione would. She adored Divination and hated Transfiguration.
All in all, she was so different with Hermione.
I sighed and rubbed my face. Why couldn't I love Lavender instead of Hermione? It would be so much easier.
"Just remember that, that I always be here for you. That I always love you and be here waiting for you."
I could only hoped that I could love her back. Could I?
"You deserve to be happy, Ron. Not wasting away like this,"
Did I really deserve to be happy? Was it not worth it to hold my love to Hermione with my dear life?
"If you only focused to only one locked door which may or may not always be locked, you wouldn't realize that there's another door that already opened and waited for you to come in."
Was Lavender the open door that Malfoy said before? Could I forget that locked door and enter the open one? Was I strong enough?
xxXXxx
"What's with that long face, Ron?" Harry said as he entered our cubicle in Auror Headquarter. I sighed.
"What do you think I should do, Harry?" I asked him. Harry looked at me with questioning eyes. "What should I do with my heart?"
"Oh, Ron," Harry approached me and threw his hand over my shoulder.
"Hermione is getting married. There will be no chance for me any longer. Not that I ever have any," I chuckled bitterly. Harry kept rubbing my slumped shoulder. Silence surrounded us for a while before Harry started talking.
"I think you should start to move on, don't you? You have been pinning over her so long it's not healthy, Ron. Find a new love. Live your life. Let Hermione go. I'm sure there's someone out there who loves you and you can learn to love her back. Like I said, you deserve to be loved."
"Do you think I can, Harry?"
"Of course, Ron," he said kindly to me.
xxXXxx
Today was Hermione's wedding day. I stood in front of full body mirror in my bedroom. I looked at my reflection. The black formal robe fitted perfectly to my body, courtesy of Harry's rich boyfriend. Delicate hands appeared in front of me and fixed my tie. I smiled at her.
"Thanks, Lavender," Lavender smiled at me and I looked at her beautiful form appreciatively. She wore soft blue sleeveless ankle-length gown that drapped her lean body beautifully. She let her long blonde hair fall in soft wave, a small pretty tiara in top of her head. Sapphire adorned her neck, ears, and hands, matching her gown perfectly. "You are beautiful. Thank you for agreeing to be my date tonight," I smiled at her.
"I thank you for asking me," she said. I took her hand and led her to the floo to the wedding place.
We arrived an hour before the ceremony begin. I led Lavender to mingled with another guests. After half an hour passed, I asked Lavender to accompany me to Hermione. She agreed. I knocked Hermione's dressing room and opened the door when she signaled that we could come in. Hermione looked radiant. Her wedding gown and her hair do were magnificent. But her smile that took my breath away. It was so wide and she looked so happy I couldn't help but smiled back at her.
"You make a beautiful bride, Hermione."
"Thank you, Ron. You look dashing as well. You too, Lavender. You two look good together."
"As you will with Blaise, Hermione," Lavender beaming at the bride. We exchanged pleasantries for a while before I steeled myself to say what I wanted to say in the first place.
"I have something to tell you, Hermione," I said seriously. Hermione smiled and nodded. "Hermione, I... I love you."
"I love you too, Ron," Hermione said smiling rather confusedly. I gulped nervously. Lavender, already understood my intention, squeezed my hand reassuringly.
"I, it's not like that, Hermione. I know you love as your bestfriend. But the love I feel for you is different. I love you as a woman. Have been since we were in Hogwarts. I love you, but I was too coward to tell you that."
"Oh, Ron..."
"I knew you don't love me like that and I kept that feeling to myself so that I would be beside you even just as your best friend," I smiled wryly at her. Hermione frowned. Her guilty face, I recognized. "Oh, no, Hermione. Don't be sorry. I am happy that you find your happiness in Blaise. I'm happy that you finally found the man that you will spend your life with. Really, I'm happy that you are.
"Hermione, I... The reason why i tell you all this is that... This whole years, I was focused my life, my time to love you. I have never stopped pinning over you. Hell, I cried so hard when you said you were engaged with Zabini," I chuckled sadly. "I was hurt. And I hurt another along the way." I squeezed Lavender hand tightly.
"Ron..."
"Hermione, I tell you this not to ruin your wedding day. I tell you this is because, because I want a closure. I want to move on from my feeling towards you. I want to find my own happiness. I want to try to love the one who loves me," I said the last sentence looked at Lavender. She looked at me with wide teary eyes.
"I love you, Hermione. I always will, I think. But, it is the time for me to give up my feelings for you," I said to Hermione who, like Lavender, supported watery eyes. She hugged me tightly. I returned her hug as tightly.
"I will always love you too, Ron. I'm sorry I have hurt you all this time. I hope you will be as happy as I am," she whispered in my ears.
"I hope so, too, Hermione. Congrtulation for your wedding. Have a happy life with him, Mrs. Zabini," she let out a teary giggled and freed me from her hug.
The ceremony was done perfectly and beautifully. Now, Hermione was officialy a Zabini. Mrs. Hermione Zabini. Everyone cheered, including me, when the married couple kissed and did their first dance. When people began to crowd the dance floor, I took Lavender's hand in mine.
"Lav," I said, swinging our body along with the music. "I don't know how long it takes for me to forget Hermione. Maybe I couldn't ever. But, if I am willing to try, will you wait for me?"
"Ron..." she looked up at me with her blue eyes. I smiled.
"If I am willing to learn to love you, will you help me?" I spun her once and wrapped my arms around her slim waist. "If I am willing to fix myself to be a man who deserve to be loved by you, will you be by my side?"
"Yes. For all of your questions," she said with watery smile.
"If I am asking you to give me one more chance, will you say yes and be my girlfriend?" I asked with a smile. A single tear escaped from beneath Lavender's eyelashes.
"I will,"
"Be my girlfriend?"
"Yes," and we sealed it with a kiss.
I tried to move on and she was still my best friend.
A.N. So, how's that? I hope it's good enough to get some Review from you! =D
Oh, and (Not) Romeo and Juliet is finally updated!
For a little explanation, I made Harry and Ron does not enter their last year of Hogwarts' education and join the Auror training right away. They got the basic training for one and a half years and became Junior Auror for another one and a half years before became a real auror.