Brick
Chapter One: Drowning
Author's Note
: Hey everyone, this is my first fic, so I hope you like it. I'm trying hard to make it as long as possible, so I apologize for any short chapters that I "publish." I'll most likely be revising each chapter; so keep checking back. Please R/R. Thanks! All comments are appreciated!Disclaimer
: Sadly, I don't own the Harry Potter characters. *sigh* Nor do I own the lyrics to the Ben Folds Five song, "Brick."She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Ron Weasley had never felt more terrible in his life. Throughout his nineteen years in the magical world, he thought he could handle anything, overcome any obstacle. He never contemplated the fact that the world he lived in was not perfect. It was all he'd ever known.
He would never forget the day she told him. The day when his seemingly perfect world turned upside down, and everything became unimportant to him-except for her.
Hermione Granger had been Ron's girlfriend since the end of fifth year, when he had finally gotten the nerve to ask her out. He'd had help from Harry, and Ginny, of course, but the words he had said that day had been his own, straight from the heart. He smiled sadly at the memory, the memory that was etched into his mind like a carving on stone. Slowly, his thoughts drifted back to the day when she had told him.
It had been a warm summer day, filled with endless possibilities, and he remembered perfectly the events that took place that morning: breakfast with his family, a game of Exploding Snap with Ginny. Fred and George's explosions in their room. And her. Hermione had been visiting the Weasley's that summer, and it was her second week staying with the family. With a shudder, Ron recalled her pale face and hollow eyes. It was like she was living but not really there. He remembered her cold arms around his neck, the saddest of smiles upon her thin face. He knew what was happening. He'd secretly known all along. He just didn't want to admit it.
"Ron?" Her timid voice whispered.
"Hmm?" His heart was pounding. He tried to control the shaking, but it was everywhere- his arms, his legs. He tried to pinch himself through her embrace, to make sure he wasn't dreaming. How he wished he was.
He closed his eyes. He didn't want to hear the words, didn't want her to tell him anything except she would be with him for the rest of his life. Childish hopes, he thought. This is the real world.
Hermione's bottom lip trembled as she spoke the words he'd been dreading to hear for four months.
"I…I have cancer."
