Inertia
By: EhCanadian
Author's Note: We were reviewing inertia today for a test, and all I could think about was Ron and Hermione. So this story is the brainchild of that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with it. Except multiple copies of the books and copious amounts of newspaper and magazine articles about the series.
An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an external and unbalanced force. An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external and unbalanced force.
Once, when Ron was at the unfortunate age of ten, a snotty boy had come up to him in Muggle London, and stated Newton's First Law of Motion. Ron had been just as surprised as the others were. Here was this boy that no one knew stating some stupid muggle law of physics. (At the time, the four Weasleys didn't know it was related to physics, but years later, Percy had brought it up and explained.) But then the boy said something they didn't expect.
"You, wizards, are the external force." Said the boy. "We normal folk are the object. And we don't want to be acted upon." Then he took off towards the local park.
Not only did it scare the wizards, it left them flabbergasted. How did the snotty boy know what they were?
"Mum?" questioned one of the twins, "…Aren't muggles not supposed to know about our kind?"
Mrs. Weasley didn't answer, but instead hurried them away to the Ministry so she could report the boy.
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Years later, Ron still remembered the incident. It kept him in line sometimes, when he remembered the snotty boy telling him to stop being the external force.
"Hermione?" Asked Ron one day at lunch.
"Yes, Ronald?" replied Hermione, taking a big bite out of her Pumpkin Pasty while reading 'Hogwarts: A History' for what had to be the umpteenth time.
"What do you know about Newton's first law of motion?"
Hermione briefly looked up from her page, interested. It was a rare occurrence when Ron asked about the muggle world, and she didn't ever think that he'd EVER ask about physics. "The law of Inertia?"
"…Inner-tia, you mean?" replied a confused Ron, befuddled at the pronunciation of the word already. "That's what Percy called it."
Hermione laughed, "No, Ron, its In-er-cha." She pronounced the word correctly. It had certainly been a long time since she used it. "An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an external and unbalanced force. An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external and unbalanced force." She repeated the law she had learned in school.
Ron's face brightened when he heard the familiar line. "Yeah! That!"
Hermione spent the rest of the lunchtime explaining it to him.
The next day, Victor Krum asked Hermione to the Yule Ball.
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Sixth year came and went, with it coming the eventual death of the ever-great Albus Dumbledore.
Through out it all, Krum was still a factor in Hermione's life. Sometimes not very big, but it kept her going. Even though her heart was claimed by someone else, her love for the red head boy and his fascination with Inertia, formally known as inner-tia, still was in the background, lying dusty and forgotten.
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Seventh year had come. The final year of Hogwarts. McGonagall was named head-mistress of the massive wizarding school. Many students didn't return. If Dumbledore had died in its great halls, then nothing was safe anymore.
But Potter, Weasley, and Granger came back for their last year. Potter because he couldn't stand the Dursleys for a whole year, not to mention public schools. Weasley because his mother would have a conniption if he didn't return.
Granger had never really stated a reason on why she came back. She supposed she'd rather finish out her school career with her friends then sit back at home without them. They were annoying at times, but they were a family. A very dysfunctional family, but that didn't stop her from loving them.
She didn't realise that she quite possibly loved the red-headed boy more than other until one day it hit her square in the face.
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Her and Ron were having a row, and Harry had said something about them needing to stop fighting like an old, married couple and to get their act in order.
Ron had blushed madly and foolishly said "'Mione and I will never get married."
"Oh yeah? Why do you think that?" retorted Harry.
"Because she's the object and I'm the external force. If I ever married her, then her life would be screwed up because… of me." Said Ron, tapering off near the end. It had hurt him more then he could ever think to say those sentences, once he realised what he said.
Hermione looked as though she were about to cry.
An awkward silence lay between the two for the rest of the week, making them avoid each other at all costs.
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One day, between class changes, Hermione had hexed Ron's bag to break so she could talk to him. Several broken bottles and crinkled papers lay around the red-headed boy, ink streaming down the steps and staining multiple rolls of parchment.
Letting out a string of curse words Mrs. Weasley would be embarrassed to hear, he bent down and started to mop up the mess.
"Ron!" called out Hermione, "Ron, wait up!"
The bushy-haired girl ran to him and said breathlessly, before she even gave him a chance to speak, "I don't want you to be the external force, okay? You never were, and you never are going to be, if I can help it."
Ron sat there, flabbergasted. Instantly reminded of the day with the snotty boy yelling at him 'You, wizards, are the external force! And we don't want to be acted upon!' But something clicked right then and there. The girl of his dreams was telling him that for once, he, Ronald Weasley, wasn't the external force.
"...Well… That's rather good to know." Replied Ron
And they couldn't help but smile.