To Moony, with all my love.
We Need to Talk
Contrary to popular belief, Ronald Bilius Weasley had much more of an emotional range than that of a teaspoon. Some would even go as far to say more range a tablespoon. While he preferred not to show it, for fear of torment from his older brothers, it was there and drove him completely mad. But only Ron Weasley knew that he had, in fact, the emotional range of the Pacific Ocean for one Hermione Jean Granger.
It wasn't always that way. It most definitely wasn't love at first sight. With her too big hair, her big front teeth, her skinny legs and attitude problem; Ron never would have believed that that was going to be the girl he wouldn't be able to get out of his head. Granted, over the years she became more appealing, in both a personal and physical sense, to say the least. She eventually learned how to make her hair curly without being too bushy. Everyone knew how her teeth became normal sized thanks to Draco. Her legs, and rest of her body for that matter, took a lovely womanly shape as she grew older. Most of all, she learned how to let loose and have a good laugh. Even though Ron knew that he was causing her to do quite the opposite lately.
He didn't plan on becoming serious with Lavender. Kissing her was merely killing two birds with one stone; make Hermione jealous, and repress some of that goddamn sexual tension. And it worked, to an extent. Thankfully, his hormones stopped screaming for a while, which was great. Also, Hermione was extremely jealous, but that wasn't so great. Ron wanted so badly for Hermione to feel the exact same way he felt when she went to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum.
That was the night he fell in love with her. When he saw her with him, with a him that wasn't him, he felt like his heart shattered, and that he would kill any man who put his hands where Viktor had placed him, and then it hit him. He was absolutely, undeniably, head over heels in love with the witch in the periwinkle blue.
Nonetheless, when he saw Hermione's face when he and Lavender entered that empty classroom he knew he made a mistake. He saw it in her eyes; the heartbreak, the jealousy, the raw ruthlessness that he had that night. He wanted to so bad drop the giggling girl on his arm and rush to her side. If it weren't for those damned birds she set on him, he probably would have. His quick temper got to him. 'Two can plat at that game' he remembered thinking pulling Lavender out of the room.
After that night Lavender declared that they were dating. Not wanting to upset yet another woman in his life, he obliged thinking that after a few days she would get distracted by some handsome Ravenclaw with dark rimmed glasses and reading material by dead muggle writers. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.
With each passing day Lavender came up with new pet names, new stories, new date ideas-making it harder and harder for Ron to end it. He tried acting clingy, which really only made things worse. He tried being cold which only made her pester him more.
Hermione refused to acknowledge his presence let alone speak to him. She even started having something resembling a relationship with Cormac McLaggen, the one Gryffindor Ron would personally hand over to the Forbidden Forrest. Logically he understood why she would try to be with someone else, but it made him that much more crankier. Which made Harry crankier, which made Hermione crankier. So even while trying to not speak to her, he some how managed to piss her off.
Which brings us to this particular afternoon. It was lunch time on a Saturday and Lavender decided that Ron was treating her out to lunch at the Three Broomsticks. She was going off about something Parvati said about some other girl talking about some boy, while Ron stared off at the other couples enjoying their precious late winter day.
"Wonwon? Wonwon are you even listening to me?"
Ron looked at Lavender's slightly flushed face etched with lines from her scowl. Her eyes held annoyance, but nothing that would cause damage lasting more than thirty seconds. He was prepared to give her his normal comforting lies and to say the right things to make her happy. And he thought of Hermione.
He took Lavender's hand.
"No. I'm not listening…I never listen…" Her scowl was replaced with a look of shock and hurt. She pulled her hand away from him. She clearly was not expecting that answer and still didn't know what to make of it. She did however expect the next couple of words to come out of Ron's mouth. He looked down into his lap and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked up at Lavender's face and already saw her watering eyes.
"Lavender, we need to talk."
