Author's note: Thank you all so much for the comments, they mean a lot to me. Writing is my life, and though most of my writing is my own original work, I couldn't help but write my own Harry Potter fanfiction, especially after months of reading different Harry Potter fan fictions.
I have noticed over the months of, dare I say, obsessive fan fiction reading, I have found that something incredibly annoying continues to pop up in many a fanfic: horrible depiction of the characters.
For the most part, I read Hermione and Ron fan fictions: they are my favorite character pairing, when they are well done that is. There are so many that make me angry because of how they depict these two unique characters. So many people want to depict Ron as a lovesick man who lives only for Hermione, is incredibly sensitive in every aspect, and is quite pathetic. That is not Ronald Weasley: that's an annoying asshole in my point of view. Ron loves Hermione, would die for her, and does get jealous and insecure about his relationship with her, but if I read "I love you more than air Hermione, I would die without you" or anymore sickeningly romantic bullshit that he would never say come out of his mouth one more time, I'm going to freak out. Ron is passionate, has a bad temper at times, and is extremely loyal: he's not Edward Bloody Cullen, get your Twilight-type bullshit out of my Harry Potter, please and thank you.
My rant is almost over, don't you worry. Hermione is a strong, intelligent, and independent woman who additionally loves Ron. She is insecure at times, and greatly fears failure (and in my spin, she fears Bellatrix Lestrange because of the extreme torture she underwent by her hand… or wand, so to speak even more, but I feel that that is accurate, as no one can be tortured to that extent without having at least some emotional baggage about it), she is not so dependent on Ron that when he is away from her for five seconds she has an emotional breakdown. Sure, she was incredibly upset when Ron left them in the seventh book and was pissed at him when he returned, but after she forgave him: she forgave him. That isn't the type of thing that would haunt her for months afterwards, she's smarter than that.
I know I'm not perfect, and I might not depict them to a T, but I do my best to write something unique, but true to the story (it's ok to come up with a different story line or radically change it, I have seen a few fan fictions that do it beautifully, it just needs to be done right) and the characters, as I believe that's my job when I am a fan fiction writer. If you want a character that is a lovesick, dependent moron, go ahead and write one up (but please, don't try to publish it, one Stephanie Meyer is enough), but get your grubby hands off of Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and every other Harry Potter character, they deserve more respect than that.
Okay, my rant is over. Thank you all again for your reviews, I love to read them and feel all the more connected to my readers through the reviews, and they help me greatly with my writing, so keep at it. J.K. Rowling is a genius and I love everything about her writing; I could only hope to be half as good at writing as she (I needed to add that in). Here is what you've been wanting to read but instead had to read my babbling, I thank you for your patience, and here you go:
X
X
"It can't be stupid," George grumbled.
Everyone turned to him, wide-eyed. It was the first thing he had said since Fred had died; it had been nine days. They had all sat down at the kitchen table and began talking about the thing they had avoided speaking of: Fred's funeral.
"W-what did you say, son?" Mr. Weasley asked, thunderstruck.
After taking a deep breath, George turned his brown eyes up to look at his family, and for the first time in days, they were clear and coherent, "I said that his funeral can't be stupid, not like what you're all talking about doing. Flowers? A service? Mourners? Bloody hell, you all know that that wasn't what Fred was about. He'd be throwing dung-bombs down at us if he saw… or up at us, or wherever the bloody wanker ended up," the faintest hint of a smile touched his lips a he said this, "Like I said, it can't be stupid."
Everyone sat in stunned silence, staring at George as if he had risen from the dead, and indeed he had in a way.
Finally, Mrs. Weasley spoke, her brilliant brown eyes were wet from tears, "O-okay Georgie, it won't be stupid. What do you think we should do?"
George leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, seemingly deep in thought; "Well… fireworks… yes… could we…. Brilliant… last invention... we haven't tested it yet… could we…. When better to test it… lots of fireworks… in the punchbowl!" George let out a hearty laugh, and his eyes twinkled as he took in his family, waiting for them to get the joke… the joke that had half been said by him, and the other half had been said in his head by Fred.
Not willing to let her son go back into the eerie silence he had been in, Mrs. Weasley chuckled, "Very good George, how about we let you handle it? We'll just handle the… unpleasant things," she didn't want to remind George that the brother that he had been talking to was dead; she didn't want to lose him again, "Won't we?" she looked expectantly at everyone at the table, who all nodded uncomfortably.
George's grin widened, "Wow, didn't think you'd go for that mum," a silence hung in the air, and everyone there could almost hear Fred speak; George obviously did hear him, because he laughed again and went up to his room to start preparing for something that he no longer comprehended as his twin's funeral.
"Why didn't you set him straight mum?" Ron asked furiously.
"I haven't heard him laugh in days Ron," Molly replied quietly.
Ron stood up abruptly, "And how much do you think he's going to be laughing when he realizes that Fred is dead? When he gets that he's been planning for his bloody funeral! He's going mental mum, and pretending with him that Fred is still alive is going to make him worse!"
When his mother wouldn't meet his eyes, he growled and kicked his chair into the wall, "Why does every bloody person want to act like nothing is wrong?"
Mr. Weasley went to stand, but Hermione beat him to it, "Ron," she said sternly, reaching for his arm, "you need to calm down."
"NO!" He shouted, "I DON'T NEED TO BLOODY CALM DOWN! YOU NEED TO STOP BEING SO FUCKING CALM!"
Bill wrapped his arm tighter around Fleur, Ginny gripped Harry's hand, Percy was suddenly distracted in magically cleaning the fireplace, and Charlie continued to spin his wand, but no one said a word.
"You don't need to shout Ronal " Hermione began.
"I'LL BLOODY SHOUT IF I WANT TO!" Ron bellowed; his face was a brilliant red. He knew he wasn't being reasonable, and he didn't care, "JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING HERMIONE, DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T!"
Hermione stepped back apace as if she'd been struck; then, with a look of angry resolve in her face, she lifted her chin and displayed the scar upon her neck, the one left by Bellatrix's knife, "Don't care do I?" her voice was low and dangerous, "Why don't you tell everyone here how I was tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange: over and over again, and yet I still wouldn't tell her the truth, and then tell me how I don't care. How about you tell them that I wished I would die while under the Cruciatus curse, but did all I could to stay alive because I knew it would delay Voldemort, and give you and Harry a better chance to escape; then tell me how I don't care," her voice raised slightly with every word and became shrill as she tried not to cry, "How about you tell them how I was willing to die when Rowle attacked Ginny and I, just to give Ginny a chance; and THEN TELL ME HOW I DON'T CARE!" She gasped, her eyes wide, and clutched at her chest.
"Hermione…" Ron began, reaching for her.
She drew away from his touch, and gasped again, and again, and then again. She shook from head to toe and continued to wheeze as if she couldn't breathe. Hermione stumbled backwards and hit her back against the wall, which she slowly slid down until she was sitting on the ground, still gasping.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, jumping from his chair to her side in a single bound, "Hermione what's wrong?"
She stared up at him with frightened eyes for just a moment before she slumped to the ground and was still.
X
X
Author's Note: I'm not actually an angsty writer, but these characters have been through a lot of shit, and war does things to people… it would be stupid if it all ended and they were all hunky-dory right away.
