Acceptance

Summary: Ronald Weasley was very comfortable with his life, thank you very much. He had been dating Lavender Brown for a year and a half, he had great friends and a supporting family. He was so happy with the way things were going in his life that he couldn't imagine it any other way. However, Ron is gay and isn't willing to admit it anytime soon, why should he come out if he's already very content with the way things were going in his life? What will happen when a former friend from his past comes back into his life and turns Ron's world upside down? This is a coming out story and a story about acceptance. Takes place in Ron's fifth year and has flashbacks from fourth year as well. Contains Harry/Ron slash.

Chapter 1: Betrayal

Ron Weasley scowled as he watched his former best friend walk across the great hall laughing alongside Neville and Dean. It was the first day back of their fifth year and Ron had been dreading this day all summer, he hadn't spoken to Potter ever since the last day of their fourth year when they had gotten into a heated row. The two of them have had a fallen out within the past year and it all started when Harry was chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, Ron was angry that his so called best friend found a way to enter the competition without telling him and it made him even more livid when Harry acted like nothing had happened! They eventually worked things out after the first task and became friends again but Ron continue to worry that they weren't as close anymore for the remainder of the year. On the day of the last task, his family came to support Harry and after hours of waiting to see who won the Triwizard Tournament, Harry had appeared holding the cup, sobbing, and holding Cedric Diggory's body in his arms claiming Lord Voldemort was back. When they went to see Harry in the hospital, everything seemed to be fine and despite from being tired and had to go through a terrible ordeal, his former friend acted like himself. Hermione and Ron visited Harry everyday until he was released and suddenly, the boy who lived started to avoid his friends and everyone else around them. No matter how many times they tried to talk to him or spend time with him, Harry claimed he wanted to be alone and even though it didn't bother him, he could see that Harry's actions were upsetting Hermione but despite her asking Ron to give Harry time, he was so fed up with him that he decided to confront Harry on their final day at Hogwarts:

Ron saw Harry sitting at the tree by himself by the lake reading a piece of parchment, looking upset, while the rest of the students were enjoying their last day. "Ron, please don't" Hermione tried pulling his arm to keep on walking, "Let Harry have his space."

"Hermione, he's had his space for two weeks already!" Ron snapped, glaring at her, "I'm getting tired of the way he's treating us, he's upsetting you and I can see it."

"He's gone through a lot, Ron." Hermione insisted, looking over at Harry, "When he's ready to talk to us again, he will. Just please let him be."

"I'm sorry, 'Mione," Ron said stubbornly, "If you don't want to talk to him that's okay but I need to find out why he's gone all mental on us and avoiding us!" Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Ron pulled his arm out of her grip and walked over to his best friend, who looked up and frowned when Ron sat down next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry hide the piece of parchment he was looking at.

"What do you want?" Harry asked, his voice was somewhat cold and he sounded annoyed.

"I want to see what's bothering my best friend," Ron snapped, not taking his tone lightly.

"I told you already," Harry snapped back, standing up quickly, "I don't want to talk about it, why can't you just leave me alone, Ron?"

"I'm sorry that I'm worried about you!" Ron shouted, letting his anger get the best of him and ignoring the fact that people were starting to stare at him, "Ever since the third task, you've been acting mental and treating us like shit! You're hurting Hermione and I feel like I'm losing my best mate!"

"I just need time," Harry insisted loudly, looking uncomfortable that everyone was staring at him. "Look, Ron, can't we do this somewhere else?"

"No," Ron raised his voice, "We're doing this right here!"

"Ron," Harry begged lowering his voice and he looked angry but was trying to remain patient, "I will talk to you and Hermione, let's just do this somewhere else. I don't want others listening in."

"Why wouldn't you?" Ron snarled, he let his temper get the best of him and he wasn't thinking of what he was saying, "You love the publicity! You couldn't get enough of it when you entered the tournament underage and got away with it. You just couldn't handle that Cedric was our champion, the famous Harry Potter just had to enter for publicity and now you want more! You're probably saying you know who is back so you can get more attention!"

The second he said it and the second he saw Harry flinch and his facial switched from looking angry to hurt, Ron immediately regretted it. It didn't help that people around him gasped and he heard Hermione yell his name in shock.

"Harry," Ron said quickly, "I didn't –"

"You think I'm doing this for attention?" Harry demanded, "Really? I can't believe you of all people would say that! You have no idea what I went through in that graveyard! Just leave me alone, Ron, I don't want to talk to anyone!" Harry grabbed his bag and walked away leaving Ron to stare after him.

"You know what Harry," Ron roared after him before he could stop himself, "I will leave you alone, for good. If you don't want to be friends then fine, I'm done trying! I don't want anything to do with you anymore!"

Harry stopped and turned around, glaring at Ron, his eyes were filled with tears but he was holding them back, "Our friendship was over when you accused me of saying Voldemort was back for attention." He ran off into the castle, leaving Ron stand there looking after him furiously and then turned to look at the bunch of students, "What are you lot staring at?" he snapped and walked back to the castle, shaking.

A few hours after their row, Rita Seeker cornered Ron and asked to interview him for the daily prophet on why he felt Harry was lying about the return of You-Know-Who. Ron, still furious with the way Harry was acting, agreed to do the interview and vented to her. He regretted it the second Rita thanked him and walked away, smiling. Ron avoided Harry and Hermione all evening, dreading the following morning. He was so paranoid about doing an interview with Rita Seeker that he confided in his twin brothers for their advice and their reaction confirmed he had messed up.

"You went to Rita Seeker!" George exclaimed looking at Ron as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You're a prat, Ron! After all Harry has been through, I can't believe you would betray him like that."

"I know, I messed up," Ron groaned putting his head on the desk, they were in an empty corridor, "I was just so angry at him for refusing to speak to me and Hermione that I wasn't thinking!"

"You're right," Fred said shrilly, for the first time in a long time both of the twins were being serious and it killed Ron to see how disappointed they looked, "You weren't thinking! How could you do this to Harry, he's supposed to be your best friend!"

"What's going on?" A voice said behind them and they turned to see Hermione standing there with Ginny.

"How did you find us?" Ron groaned, he wasn't ready for Hermione to hear what he's done.

"You've been avoiding me ever since your row with Harry," Hermione said irritably as she took a seat at one the desks and Ginny sat down too, "I was worried you've done something stupid like you always do when you lose your temper – "

"Too late for that," George muttered under his breath but thankfully, Hermione didn't hear him.

"So, I thought it would be best to look for you and Ginny wanted to go with me." Hermione continued, "It wasn't that hard to find you, we could hear the three of you arguing all the way from the end of the corridor, why are you arguing anyways?"

"Tell her, Ron," Fred turned to look at his brother, "Go on, tell her what you did."

"Tell me what?" Hermione asked looking questioningly at Ron, who looked down at the floor and felt his ears grow red.

"Tell her now or we will," George threatened, Ron looked up at everyone in the room and shook his head. His brothers were already disappointed with him, he couldn't stand the thought of Hermione and Ginny being upset with him too for what he's done.

"Alright, since you won't we will." Fred spoke up when Ron didn't saying anything, "Ron had a run in with Rita Seeker and did an interview with her about Harry lying about You-Know-Who's return."

"You WHAT?" Ron flinched when both Hermione and Ginny screamed, turning on him.

"How could you?" Hermione chastised, looking unbelievably at him, "Harry is your best friend –"

"Was my best friend," Ron corrected, still looking down at the ground, " And skip the lecture, alright!" He stood up, having enough of this, "I already feel bad enough, I don't need this."

"You're not going anywhere," Hermione snapped grabbing his arm, "Until you explain this to Harry!"

"I'm not talking to Potter!" Ron was fuming, he didn't care if he was being stubborn, he wanted nothing to do with speaking to Harry about what he's done.

"Ron – "

"No, Hermione," Ron interrupted, "I'm not speaking to him and you lot better not say anything to him either." Before anyone could respond, he ran out of the classroom and into the common room. He saw Harry sitting in the chair by the fireplace, reading a piece of parchment and for a second, Ron considered talking to him and apologizing profusely for what he's done. But when Harry glanced up, he made eye contact with Ron and gave him a death glare, before getting up and going to the boy's dormitory. Ron walked over to the chair Harry was sitting in and put his head in hands. He had really messed up.

Ron began to eat his breakfast and glanced over at Harry, who was still talking to Dean and Neville. He continued to think about the incident with Rita, even though he wanted nothing to do with Harry and their friendship was already ruined to the point they could no longer be in the same room as each other without it getting uncomfortable, let alone talk to one another, he still felt horrible for doing the interview. This past summer, articles by the daily prophet were published about Harry lying about what went down in the graveyard and about Cedric's death. Harry was getting a lot of hate by the people who refused to believe You-Know-Who was back. Ron's interview was the first article in the daily prophet that accused Harry of lying and everyone, including Harry, were shock that Ron was one of the first people to betray him.

I'm a bloody coward, Ron thought miserably as he sat on his bed the next morning. He didn't want to go downstairs because he was too afraid of running into Harry. By now students were reading the daily prophet and his interview. He knew he couldn't sit there any longer in case Harry walked in but he was too afraid to face everyone in the school.

After a couple of minutes of determining whether or not he should get up, the dormitory door was thrown opened and in walked the person Ron was dreading to see. He was holding the front page of the daily prophet in his hands.

"Want to explain this?" Harry snarled throwing the Daily Prophet on his bed.

"Harry – "

"I thought you would've been on my side!" Harry roared, looking hurt and betrayed, "Why would you go to that rubbish reporter?"

"I was angry and – "

"You did this because you were angry?" Harry asked scandalously, "You told the whole wizarding world I'm lying about Voldemort returning and what I went through in that graveyard because you were angry?"

"I didn't mean – "

"Obviously you did!" Harry exploded, raising his voice, Ron was starting to get irritated that Harry wouldn't let him get a word in.

"I regretted it the second it happened," Ron yelled, hoping Harry would believe him, "I was mad and wasn't thinking, you were my best friend and I was worri – "

"If I was really your best friend, you would've understood I needed space after everything I've gone through, you wouldn't have accused me of lying about Voldemort and going to Rita Seeker about it!" Harry said harshly and he walked to the dormitory door before Ron could get another word out and then he turned around, "You should start looking for a new best mate, Ron. I want nothing to do with you anymore." He slammed the door so hard that it began to shake the pictures on the wall.

Ron and Harry's friendship officially ended that day and the two of them haven't spoken all summer, the only person he kept in touch with was Hermione. Even though she was furious at Ron, she felt Ron had gotten what he deserved when they went back to the platform that day and his parents had gotten ahold of him. After cornering Harry and hugging him, apologizing for their son's actions, they started to turn on Ron in public and demanded to know why he would say such a thing to the daily prophet about Harry lying. Hermione felt Ron had been embarrassed enough and started to talk to him again and they were still close. She spent the last couple of weeks at the burrow before coming back to school and even though Ron didn't want to admit it, it wasn't the same without Harry there.

Just at that second, Hermione walked into the great hall and Ron watched as she walked up to Harry and tapped him on the shoulder. When Harry turned around and saw her, he gave her a hug then started to talk to her excitedly causing Ron to frown. Hermione never mentioned her and Harry being on speaking terms or even being friends with one another still. He watched as she hugged Harry again and then went over to sit next to Ron, "What?" she asked when she noticed Ron staring at her.

"Since when are you friends with Potter?" Ron asked loud enough for Harry to hear and the boy who lived turned around to scowl at him.

"Just because you have a problem with Harry," She emphasized his name and glared at him defensively, "Doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be friends with him. In fact, I never stopped being his friend."

"I have every reason to have a problem with him 'Mione," Ron hissed, "He's been acting like a prat towards me!"

"You accused him of saying You-Know-Who is back for attention and then did an interview with Rita Seeker about how you believed he was lying," Hermione said coldly, "I don't blame him in the slightest for not wanting anything to do with you, especially since most of the wizarding world is accusing him of lying about You-Know-Who." She pointed to the cover of the daily prophet and on the front cover was another article about Harry and what happened in the graveyard.

"Hermione, he refused to speak to us for almost two weeks after the third task," Ron argued, ignoring his friend rolling her eyes, "I know it hurt your feelings too."

"He was going through a difficult time and had every reason for wanting to be alone." Hermione said as she began to pile food on her plate, "He approached me on the Hogwart's Express to apologize for the way he was acting and said he needed time. I also told him I had nothing to do with you going to Seeker on the way back to platform 9 ¾ and we talked the whole train ride home. I've been communicating with him all summer."

"Why didn't you say something?" Ron blurted out.

"That's none of your concern," Hermione said stiffly, "Harry doesn't question me being friends with you so you shouldn't question me about my friendship with Harry."

Ron opened his mouth to argue but at that moment, Lavender Brown sat next to him and kissed his cheek. He decided to drop it and looked over at his girlfriend, the two of them had been together since third year and he was madly in love with her. Hermione rolled her eyes and had gotten up to walk out of the hall, letting the two of them be alone. "You're late," he grinned at her and his girlfriend sighed, "Parvati wanted me to go with her to see Professor Trelawney and we got into a conversation. I lost track of time, why do you look so glum?"

"Probably because Harry's in the great hall and Ron's been trying to avoid him ever since we got back here," another voice said and Ginny had taken a seat across from him.

"You know if you apologize to him, he –"

"I have no reason to apologize to Potter," Ron cut his girlfriend off and felt bad when she looked hurt.

He heard an angry tut and looked up to see Harry walk by him, trying not to make eye contact with him. Ron knew Harry had obviously overheard him just now but he didn't care. It was true, he owed Harry nothing and wasn't going to apologize to him.

"Hey Harry," Ginny grinned suddenly and Ron wanted to groan, why would she talk to Harry right in front of him?!

"Hey Gin," Harry smiled back, ignoring Ron all together, "How was your summer?"

"Boring," Ginny replied back, "How about you?"

"Fine," Harry said, "The muggles paid no attention to me which is something I enjoy so it was quite peaceful." Ginny laughed flirtishly, making Ron scowl, his sister has had a crush on him for as long as he could remember. He glanced sideways at Lavender, just to see that she was smiling at Harry too.

The bell rang and Harry sighed, "I better get to class, I'll see you later Ginny and Lavender." He turned to walk out of the hall and as they were getting up, Ron hissed at Ginny, "Why would you talk to him when I'm right here?"

"I just said hi," Ginny said defensively, "I don't care if you two aren't friends anymore, I still like Harry."

"Just don't talk to him in front of me," Ron said as they turned the corner, "How do you think I feel seeing my ex best friend talking to my sister right in front of me?"

"I don't care how you feel," Ginny replied casually, "Harry's still my friend and I'll talk to him whenever I want to."

"I don't think you're being fair," Lavender spoke up, holding his hand, "If Ginny talked to you in front of Harry, he wouldn't have minded."

"Well yeah," Ginny smirked and then put a hand on Ron's shoulder, "But Harry knows I'm related to Ron and have no choice but talk to him and spend time with him."

"And Harry talks to me, even though I'm dating you –" Lavender started to say but then Ginny quickly chimed in to change the subject, "Which I still don't know what you see in this goof, I thought for sure the only person he would ever kiss is our Auntie Muriel – "

Lavender started to laugh and Ron glowered at her, he knew his sister was joking but he hated it when she brought that up. "I'd watch it if I were you –"

"I was only joking," Ginny giggled and kissed Ron on the cheek, "You need to stop taking everything so seriously." She walked off and Ron glared after all as they walked to their classroom.

"She has a point you know," Lavender said gently, "You take everything too serious sometimes, Ron."

"She embarrassed me in front of you," Ron complained, making Lavender laugh again, she kissed him on the cheek comfortingly.

"She's your little sister, she's supposed to do that."

"Well she's still a pain in the ass sometimes."

"But you still love her," Lavender said gently.

"True," Ron admitted, grinning but felt his ears going red. Him and Ginny had gotten really close over the summer, with him being lonely, he started to spend more time with her. By the end of the summer, they were inseparable. Ginny had just turned fourteen years old and she was beautiful, just seeing her walk down the hall made some guys turn to look after her and it made Ron furious. He hated the fact that guys were started to show interest in his little sister and he started to become incredibly over protective of Ginny, which annoyed his sister to no end. He didn't care though if his sister got angry at him for being overprotective, no bloke was going to break her heart and Ron was going to make damn sure of it. His thoughts suddenly were interrupted when Hermione caught up to them and they stood outside the potions classroom. When Harry arrived, Ron was so focused on pulling Lavender to the other side of the door to get away from him that he accidentally bumped into Malfoy. He apologized quietly and ignored Hermione rolling her eyes at him.

"Woah watch it Weasel," Malfoy taunted, looking amused, "Why are you in such a hurry to get away from Potter? Of course, I don't blame you but still."

"Shove off Malfoy," Ron muttered, looking to the ground in embarrassment.

"That's not nice," Malfoy taunted, "Didn't your mum teach you any manners? I'm guessing not, she's probably more focused on not having any money."

Ron opened his mouth to argue but he felt Lavender put a small hand on his shoulder and he bit his tongue. "It's not worth it," she said quietly and gave Malfoy a dirty look, before pulling her boyfriend away to stand somewhere else.

"By the way, Weasel," Malfoy said loudly, smirking at Harry, "I loved that interview you did with Rita Seeker about Potter. It's about time you take in notice in how attention hungry he is."

Ron flinched but bit his tongue, he hated it when people brought up the interview he did last year, especially since Harry was right there. However, it was Hermione who spoke up, "Shut up, Malfoy."

"How dare you speak to me," Malfoy walked over and spat in her face, "You filthy little mudblood."

Ron had enough, he drew out his wand and let go of Lavender's hand, even though he was tired of Malfoy insulting his family, calling Hermione a mudblood was the last straw. He shoved Malfoy out of the way and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Harry take out his wand too and started to get into the Slytherin's face. "Don't you ever call her that!" Harry snapped, glaring at Malfoy and Ron was shaking in fury at the smug look on the blonde hair's face. He raised his fist to punch him but then he felt a hand grab both his and Harry's shoulders, "Well, well, well, " Snape sneered, looking between Ron and Harry, "Why are we trying to attack another student?"

"Malfoy called Hermione a mudblood, sir." Ron spoke up before Harry, "And he insulted my family."

"So?" Snape raised his eyebrows.

"So I'm sick of him insulting us!" Ron said angrily, "And if you weren't such a coward, you'll do something instead of favoring him!"

Snape raised his eyebrows and said quietly, "You're right, Weasley, I will do something. 10 points from Gryffindor for trying to attack a student and detention for both you and Mr. Potter."

"But sir – "

"Do I need to take 50 points away, Mr. Potter?" Snape snapped looking at Harry, "You two will be in my office tonight at 7 pm to serve your detention – "

"This is ridiculous!" Ron yelled

"Why isn't Malfoy being punished?" Harry protested, glaring at the Potions Master, "He's the one who started it!"

"Enough," Snape interrupted, "And now I'm going to make it a week's worth of detention for the both of you. This is not a good way to start the new year, now get into my classroom before I add another week. Ron cursed under his breath, shaking, as he hurried away from Snape, Malfoy, and Harry. He slammed his books down onto the table, Lavenders sat down next to him and Hermione decided to sit next to Harry, "Just drop it, alright, Hermione?" he heard Harry say and he turned to look at Lavender, who also looked like she was going to give him a lecture, "Don't start," Ron muttered and turned away to focus on the lesson. This was the worst first day of his life, he had already landed a detention and the worst part was he was going to have to do the detention with his former best friend, the one person he wanted to avoid the most.