This was my entry in the May 2013 DMHG Challenge. The prompt was Regret. It won first place! Thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed this drabble; I know I loved reading everyone else's.
Ron is all warm tones and heavy gestures, meaning written across his face and steeped in his body language. There is no guesswork, no challenge; it's all laid out for her to see with his heart stitched across his sleeve as he breathes, "I missed you," into her ear.
"I wanted nothing more—nothing more—than to be strong enough to stand there by your side."
A whisper. "But you didn't."
The dead weight of Ron's arm around her shoulder doesn't feel familiar or comforting or warm.
The lead weight in her chest feels like regret and sounds like Draco.