"You know what your problem is? You are too full of yourself," she said angrily before walking away. He stared after her, quietly, seething with anger. He knew that, in a way, she had every right to think so, but the part of him that was furious at her was even more hurt that she pointed it out like an obvious fact. What was worse was that he still did love her, but she had walked away from him.
She was clearly hurt too, and she made sure he knew as much. One of the first things she did after they split, was latch on to Ron Weasley, or Won-Won, as she called him. Ernie found himself gagging at the terrible nickname. One of the disadvantages of the fact that they had kept their own relationship under the wraps was that no one suspected Lavender was simply using Ron, even though Ernie doubted that the redhead would have caref much even if he had known. The Hufflepuff seemed to bump into the supposed love-birds everywhere, however, and quickly began to wonder if it was on purpose. Fortunately for him, the two didn't make it very far or last very long, thanks to a certain Hermione Granger.
Nonetheless, he had had enough, and decided to give Lavender a taste of her own medecine. Soon enough, he seemed to go everywhere and spend all his time with Hannah Abbott. He saw the Gryffindor's glares each time he passed her, and made sure to return them with a smug smirk. Once, Lavender even went as far as to come up to him and a very confused Hannah, and say a few choice words. He had seemed to be bearing jer taunts with a quiet resignation, right up until the moment he mouthed "canaries" at her mockingly, while Hannah wasn't looking. She turned and left immediately, and he couldn't help thinking he had won a small victory.
The lie with Hannah could only last so long, however, and they soon started growing apart. He was a bit sad about it, since he was starting to grow fond of her, though Lavender still occupied a large part of his thoughts. In a way he was glad too, however, because Hannah certainly deserved better.
Following these incidents, there was a period of radio silence between the Lavender and him. They stopped actively trying to hurt each other, but there was still clearly a chill in the air between them. They made sure to sit at opposite ends of the classrooms during their few shared classes, and a frosty glance comprised the entirety of their conversations when they passed by each other in the hallways.
This lasted for longer than either of them would have liked -though neither would admit it- until Voldemort decided to rage a war on Hogwarts. Or more specifically, until nearly the end of said war. Something as gruesome as the Final Battle had no place for petty disagreements, and Ernie liked to think it was simply his luck, (though good or bad, he couldn't tell) that he ended up fighting beside Lavender.
He didn't spend too much time thinking about it, however. He couldn't with all the spells that were being aimed at him. For a few moments, he even forgot she was standing there. Until he caught a gleam of green light headed towards her from the corner of his eye.
By the time he turned to look at her, it was too late.
Everyone had their regrets from the war. When years later, Ernie Macmillan was asked about his, he would look away and tears would fill his eyes. He had just one regret, but he would never let himself forget it.
Notes: For Fruits! I hope you like it.
Also for the 500 Different Pairings Challenge and the Cruel and Unusual Pairings Challenge!