I Told You I Don't Care

I don't own anything you see used here. Life is sad and confusing that way.

Author: Dimitri Aidan

Rating: Eventual R, PG-13 at the moment.

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairings: Percy/Oliver and Ron/Draco are the main pairings. Harry/Hermione and Ginny/Colin, as well as others, are also present

Genre: Slash, Romance, Angst, Action/Adventure.

Summery: Ron had life figured. But Harry and Herm being married and Percy and Draco as members of the Order didn't figure in, until he finds himself working with them…not to mention falling for a certain blond.

Notes: Just feeding my Percy and Ron addiction. I have a thing for redheads. And I love Draco and Oliver with Ron and Percy, so I had to toss them in with a pinch of slash and bake at 400 degrees. This is the end result. I make no promises about my baking skills though…

This is equal parts R/D and P/O, I'd like to think, in spite of the summery.

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Chapter One

When it will end in misery

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It wasn't that Ron was upset, or even jealous or something stupid like that…he just felt a little bit left out, really. They had always been the trio yet…they couldn't be a trio in this. They had laws against that sort of thing actually…

"Do you, Harry James Potter, take this woman, Hermione Katherine Granger, to be your lawfully bound bride?" The man, one of the deputy Ministers of Wizarding Contracts, droned.

Harry, who looked rather smart in his pressed black tuxedo, was beaming brightly. Green eyes sparkled with more life than Ron had seen in his friend's eyes for a very long time. Harry was barely twenty-five, but his eyes were old and often tired, more so than Ron wanted to admit at times. He still held the image of his best friend in Hogwarts, full of life and seeking adventure, though it usually found him first, willing to take any risk…

But, nonetheless, Harry looked rather handsome, Ron would give him that.

Next to Hermione they looked the perfect couple. She stood an inch above Harry, but only because of her shoes. Without them, they were the exact same height. Her hair had been straightened and threaded with flowers, daisies if Ron was forced to admit to knowing such things, which matched the design of her delicate cream-colored dress.

She had told them both but had looked at Ron while speaking when she took it out of the cedar chest in her parents home, that it had been the dress her mother wore, and her grandmother before her, and even her great-grandmother before her. Her Great-great-grandmother had made it for her eldest daughter's wedding and it'd been passed down ever sense.

Hermione had blushed faintly when she whispered she hoped to one day see her own daughter in it before smiling faintly. Ron was sure she had never looked more beautiful in that moment, thinking of a future that may or may not actually happen, and holding onto that dress like it was the lifeline to that far away possibility.

He was pretty sure Harry would agree. Sure, she looked nice now, but that moment…had been something special. Or maybe it'd just been special to him, or them, because it was the moment where he finally let go of his best friends. Let go of that childhood crush on Harry, because who couldn't have loved Harry during their Hogwarts days, and his slightly more adult love of Hermione, and accepted that this was really going to happen.

They were really going to get married.

"I do."

He sighed, fidgeting with the sleeve of his suit. Best Man. Ron Weasley, who harbored feelings for the bride and the groom for nearly a decade, stood beside Harry, as his sister stood beside Hermione, and listened to the vows that literally caused him pain.

Sure, he'd let go, but that didn't make it hurt less.

He should have seen this though. He knew that at one time Harry had returned his feelings, a long time ago, but Ron had never done anything. He hadn't wanted to hurt Hermione. And Hermione too, had felt the tug of attraction for Ron, but once again he hadn't acted. He couldn't hurt Harry.

But, thankfully for them, he was a bit more expendable.

Who cared if he was hurt?

He glanced out into the crowd that had gathered in the backyard of his childhood home. It was done up very nice, with flowers and tall trellis type things, and candles to be lit after sunset. Tables were arranged and…it was all very beautiful.

They deserved it, he supposed, to have a wonderful moment to remember.

Oliver Wood, his partner of the last three years, offered him a sympathetic smile though Ron could see him twisting the ring they both wore around his finger nervously. He didn't really want to be here, weddings made him dreadfully uncomfortable. That made sense to Ron, since the last they had attended had been Penelope Clearwater to Marcus Flint and that had been very…strained and uncomfortable event, to say the very least of the matter.

Neither cared for Marcus, Oliver had never cared for Penelope, and Ron couldn't look at her without thinking of someone else who he really didn't want to be thinking of assuming he could help it and apparently he could not.

They'd only gone out of respect as they had been invited and everything, but later in the quiet of their flat they'd been forced to admit that they'd just as soon stayed home and slept their Saturday away.

He'd almost missed Hermione's 'I Do' he was so caught up in his thoughts but he couldn't have missed the kiss they shared. One could literally feel the magic the two of them generated just by being near to each other and in love.

The first time Ron had seen the spark between them he'd nearly died. It was an old legend of sorts; when a person found the one person they were truly meant to be with their entire lives and they shared a kiss, it would be visible to all around them. Ron had always believed it, because his parents had it.

He glanced at them and saw them holding hands and the slight glow their wedding rings had taken on. He'd thought it normal growing up, but realized later on it meant his parents were made for each other. Ron had to admit he liked the idea of his parents being Soul Mates. Other kids parents grew apart and divorced but his were forever. There was literally no one else in the world who could do for them what they did for each other.

For all the teasing he'd endured on his family's account just knowing that his parents were truly happy with one another made it worth it.

He didn't enjoy it so much where Harry and Hermione were concerned though. They generated lots of sparks and a bright blue light when they kissed. Mum said it was because they were young and at the height of their power and when time wore on the light would fade to a near overlooked glow.

Ron sighed and twisted his ring around his finger, then blinked and peered at it closely. The letters carved around the outside of the ring were starting to light up, one by one. He gave it five minutes before he had to make a run for it.

Great.

Oliver was standing up, as were the rest of the guests, but Oliver slowly made his way into the house. Ron wouldn't have it so easy and that damn smug Scot bastard knew he wouldn't.

Sometimes he loathed Oliver.

"Now, Ron wasn't that lovely?" Melissa who was Bill's wife cooed. She was nice woman and had gained a fair amount of weight due to the twins she was carrying. (Apparently they ran in the family.) She'd been rather plain, in Ron's view, but the fact she was quick witted and fit in so well with the Weasley family (Which included Harry, Hermione, Oliver, and Colin by default) had more than made up for that.

It took a special person to marry into their family and survive.

"I suppose." He looked at her warily and noted that Rebecca, Charlie's fiancée of the past five years, Ginny, his mum, and Hermione were somehow splitting away from all the fuss to head over to him.

He decided he didn't like this at all.

Four Minutes and counting.

"Are we to expect to see you exchanging vows anytime soon?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Did this conversation never end? "No."

"Why not?" Ginny asked arching an eyebrow at him. He glared at her.

"Because I don't want to get married. It's one of the few upsides of liking men I'm not expected to do these kinds of things." Ron sighed.

His mother frowned. "You know that just isn't true. Not here anyway. Your father and I would very much like to see Oliver make an honest man of you."

"Mum…I assure you, mine and Oliver's relationship," Such as it was… "Is as honest as it needs to be. Now please, stop being so meddlesome. Can't you see you've already run him off so he doesn't have to hear it from Bill and Charlie again?"

They all turned to look and Ron made his getaway ignoring the cries at him to come back. He had no problems with girls, as he found he liked them almost as he liked men, but he couldn't help but be reminded of a group of hens.

Three Minutes.

He found Harry being swarmed by well wishers and looking a little dazed. Probably wondering where his new wife had hurried off to. Ron grabbed him by the arm and tugged him away from the crowd, laughingly promising to return him in a moment.

"Hey, Ron, thanks-"

"I've gotta go." Ron interrupted. "But as always I love you both and I'm really happy for you, sorry I have to run like this, and don't let anyone convince you I should be marrying Oliver." With that he patted Harry's shoulder and turned to leave, only to be caught in a surprisingly strong grip.

"Ron, you can't just go. You're my best man. You have to…I don't know, make a speech and stuff." Ron turned and winced at the look of pure concern Harry was giving him. "Is everything okay with you? You've been…quiet and kind of hard to talk to…not to mention hard to reach. Ever since you and Oliver moved in together you're always disappearing for weeks at a time."

Ron smiled sardonically. "Well, Harry, he is on the Quidditch Team and as it turns out, though the endorsements are smashing, Chess Master of the World isn't a very demanding title so I do travel with him."

He was such a liar. But a very good and practiced liar. It was rather awe inspiring in his opinion since once he couldn't have lied his way out of a paper bag.

"Are you sure that's it? You two aren't in any trouble?"

Two Minutes.

"No, Harry, we're being very good and proper gentlemen considering the circumstances."

"Then why do you have to go so soon?" Harry looked genuinely hurt and Ron wasn't surprised. He knew that they had wanted this day, their wedding, to be perfect and normal and go off without a hitch. Ron just wasn't working with them, and he was very sorry about it.

He sighed, frowning. "Because I can't stay."

He looked at Harry intently and saw those green eyes searching him, trying to figure out what secrets he was keeping, before his friend nodded and let him go.

"I understand I think."

"Thanks." And he smiled, knowing full well Harry didn't know the half of it. But that was for the better in the long run, why plague him with a bunch of details he didn't need to, and really shouldn't have to, know about?

Ron was a very different person than what he used to be.

One Minute.

Ron walked away from his best friend and into the house. He ran upstairs, into his old room, and shut the door behind him. Oliver was stretched out on his bed, chin pillowed on his arms thoughtfully. He glanced up; deep brown eyes a touch on the sad side.

"You okay?"

"No worse than at the engagement party." Ron said, knowing full well his answer wasn't an answer at all. He leaned against the wall, watching his ring and counting backwards from ten as the last symbol slowly filled with golden light.

Then he felt it the familiar and expected tug right behind his belly button. What seemed to be every color in the spectrum blurred before his eyes before he was deposited, rather unceremoniously, onto his bum. The place was one Ron had come to know well over the years.

A small hotel room in Cork, above a pub that, in Ron's honest opinion, served some of the best beer in Europe. It wasn't anything overly fancy, red carpet that was worn in certain places, cherry wood furniture that was probably older than Ron, but hadn't lost any of its original charm, and a king sized bed up against the far wall.

He sighed. And now they just had to wait.