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After Hermione's odd reaction, Ron was more confused than ever. Since she had walked off crying, he hadn't seen her. Even he could see that she was deliberately avoiding him but he could not, for the life of him figure out why. He had tried to talk to her, really he had. He had even taken one of her books and had almost been cursed by the irate little witch just to talk to her!
Nothing seemed to be working, however. Not even Ginny trying to tempt her to descend for lunch with them. She obstinately continued to eat alone in the kitchens once the main meal was over.
Ron shook off the thoughts of one of his best friends as he realized he had more pressing matters to attend to: Luna.
She had tired of never being able to see her boyfriend and, with the way she was currently acting, he was afraid that he may lose her.
Out of desperation, Ron decided to talk to Harry.
He found him one evening in the Common room, staring off into space. For once, Ginny was not by his side... or eating his face off. Ron strode towards the raven-haired young man and plonked himself determinedly down on the opposite armchair.
"Hi", he began.
"Oh, hi Ron", Harry answered half-heartedly, "Do you mind if I don't talk to you right now? I'm not really feeling up to it. I just really need some time to myself, alright?" he continued.
Ron, put out that he hadn't even got the chance to start a conversation before being dismissed by his so-called best friend, huffed audibly. When Harry still didn't take his eyes off the flickering fire before them, he sighed and did the one thing he did best: he blurted out what was on his mind.
"It's about Hermione"
Harry's head shot up and his gaze fell on Ron's face, "What about Hermione? Do you know why she's been avoiding us? Ginny's really worried, says she rarely remembers to eat."
"Ah", Ron thought to himself, "Now he's interested!"
He voiced these thoughts despite his better judgment and received an extremely unsubtle glare from Harry.
"Okaaaay", he continued after a lengthy pause, "Anyway she's being really bloody weird!"
Harry said nothing but only continued to glare.
"Um... I mean, I spoke to her last Friday and she just...um...started crying for no bloody reason!" he stuttered.
Suddenly, Harry was silent no longer, " You made her cry, again?" he questioned, looking at him incredulously.
"Not on purpose!" Ron defended himself.
Harry continued ranting as if Ron hadn't spoken, "So it's your fault that she's been eating alone and not talking to any of us? What the bloody hell did you say to her Ron?"
"I only asked her why no-one wanted me to be with Luna!" Ron was oblivious to the furious expression that his friend wore.
"What the hell are you talking about Ron?" Harry asked bemused but still obviously angry.
"Well, it's like the other day when McGonagall gave me that two week detention to stop me from seeing her!" Ron questioned, " How do you explain that, huh?"
"You were singing in class, Ron! What did you expect her to do?"
"I still thought it was a bit of an exaggeration. She completely over-reacted!" he insisted.
Harry just looked at his dimwitted friend incredulously. He couldn't believe that he was being this ridiculous. It was just like the Ron to be suspicious... of course it didn't help that they were, in fact, plotting to keep Luna away. Not that he wanted Ron to be unhappy. He just didn't want Hermione to be unhappy either. It wasn't as if Ron couldn't go to her common room. With him being a prefect, it would actually make more sense to plan their make out sessions where she wouldn't have to risk being caught. Of course, Ron being Ron, he hardly ever looked at the more logical side of things and Harry could see how it was torturing Hermione to have to watch them together.
It wasn't fair either. Ron had led her on for years to the point where she couldn't even go on a date for fear of his raging jealousy. It would seem, however, that now she had stopped trying to have a life, he had lost interest and moved on.
Harry had tried to talk to Ron about all of this, as had Ginny, but Ron had only taken it badly. Harry flinched to himself as he remembered that night. Boy, was he angry!
It had now gotten so ridiculous that she would be afraid to enter her own common room and Harry could see how being away from her friends was taking its' toll on Hermione.
Whilst he was thinking this, Ron had continued his ranting. Harry only caught snippets of the speech as Ron rambled about Quidditch practice, dates and, of course, his precious Luna.
"Ron, what on earth are you prattling on about?" Harry finally asked, exasperated.
"I was asking, which you would have been listening to if you gave a damn about my life, why you schedule practice whenever you know I'm supposed to be with Luna!"
Harry's mouth dropped open in shock. He didn't think Ron was that perceptive! Damn, I told Ginny this one was too obvious! Everything about the teachers was just Ron's overactive imagination. But it was true that practice generally tended to be when Luna was free...
Harry struggled to find a reason for this coincidence but came up blank as he saw Ron's anger escalate throughout the long pause. Oh crap, he is gonna kill me!
Just then, Harry's own personal angel descended the stairs as she coolly replied as though she had been a part of the conversation from the beginning, "Oh honestly Ron! Do you seriously think Harry has nothing better to do than to annoy you? He has to find a time that everyone can come. Thanks to our bonehead big brothers, detentions fill most evenings so be mad at them if you need to."
Ginny moved towards Harry gracefully and placed a chaste but promise-filled kiss on his lips before sliding to sit on the sofa. Harry, grateful for her interruption, sat next to her and took her hand between both of his.
Ron, seeing that they were about to lose interest in him and regain their usual interest in each other's tonsils, turned on his little sister...
Not exactly a cliffhanger but I just needed to emphasize how mad he is about all this. It's not the usual thing when he gets mad over nothing. And I know he's being shown as kind of the bad guy right now but we'll see his point of view later in the story.
Next chapter is mostly Ginny's POV but I promise that Fred will be in chapter 4. He's only been mentioned twice and he needs a bigger intro than that. But don't worry, he's coming soon!
