A/N: I could listen to the first ten seconds of "Hey Joe" on repeat for hours! That rift is just… It's fucking magic, is all I can say!
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Harry Potter, nor am I affiliated with Jimi Hendrix. *deploys bottom lip*
Part 10- Hey Joe
"Ron," Draco said rather loudly, breaking Ron from his gaze off into space.
No matter how many times he sat near the triad, he could never understand the runes their interacting auras created. They were the only ones in the world to exhibit such a phenomenon, and no matter how many times Ron looked over Hermione's African voodoo book, he could never understand how the ritual made it to where only Harry and Draco reacted this way around her…
Hermione had suggested that it was love, and Ron had taken that for fact, because there had been no other possible reason! None that he had found over the past decade, anyway…
"Ron!" Harry yelled, waving his hand in front of Ron's face, finally breaking him from his pointless peering. He liked to do that; stare off into space. It felt good on his eyelids, especially since he'd struggled with sleep the night before. It was eight in the morning, and he had already had breakfast and tea with the Malters at seven, after he'd fallen asleep at four.
"What?!" Ron asked, jumping in his chair to look between the other three at the table. The kids had already finished their food, and long since gone back inside. "What is it?"
"You're off in la- la land, when you should be going to the Red House." Ron scoffed at Hermione's observation, and rolled his eyes. He wanted to be there, and he was going to go… he just needed another few minutes.
Last night, after he'd watched Luka follow Pansy to her house, it had taken every ounce of sense, character, will-power, adulthood, you name it, to keep him from blasting through the roof and going off on a jealous tangent that no one needed to see; that he most certainly did not need to take to Pansy's house. He had resorted to going home in anger, showering in anger, and got into bed while, you guessed it, angry. Nothing could help him sleep -masturbation not even an option what with how pissed he was- and he struggled until exhaustion took him. He woke up only two hours later, and showered (livid angry and exhausted) again before going to visit his friends.
"I know. I'll be leaving in a moment…" Ron looked back from his friends, whom he hadn't fooled a bit, to the air above them once more; content in contemplating runes rather than his own emotions.
"What happened?" Hermione asked accusingly, leaning forward in her chair. "You- you've been waiting for this for months and now you don't want to go?" Hermione prodded, leaning forward in her chair.
"Mum!" Holly shrieked from within the house, the four adults on the veranda of the "Malter" Manor where the family had stayed the night after the Grand Opening. It had been easier than waking the kids. "Sev just kicked Abe!"
Hermione sighed loudly, and stood from the table to handle her wild children, heading in through the back door as she yelled, "Severus Sirius Malfoy-Potter! If you can't control yourself, then I will be putting an end to-" The rest was cut off by her closing the door behind her, and Ron shook his head.
"Two years," he muttered, unable to wait to train his godsons to terrorize their biological father solely. He remembered scuffling with his brothers… but he also remembered banding together to make mum and dad's life hell. Hermione wasn't a good target, because she was hell, so Draco would do nicely, and it was deemed even twice as nice once the next conversation took place…
"Ok, Ron. What happened?" Harry asked when Hermione had gone, and Ron looked to him and Draco. Both men were so different; it always made him wonder what the hell happened to make them love each other.
Opposites attract or something…
'Kind of like Pansy and me…' Ron hated that he just thought that.
"Mate! It's fine! I… just had a weird night," Ron defended. He didn't want to have another conversation with these two about Pansy.
"Weird? How?! The grand opening was a hit!" Harry answered.
And, of course, Draco added his two knuts with a calm, assured tone, "It's Pansy."
Ron looked to him with a glare, annoyed that the man had guessed; almost wondering if he'd used Legilimency on him while he'd been staring off into space and not noticing much else around him. When Ron didn't answer immediately, Harry said to Draco,
"I really love it when you do that and it's not directed at me." The dark-haired man leaned over and kissed Draco on the cheek before turning back to Ron to say, "What did she do? What did you do? Didn't you apologize for the food fight?"
"I did. We're fine! It's- it's not Pansy."
"Liar," Draco butted in, "Did you tell her you loved her or something?"
"No! I- I don't love her!" Ron didn't even convince himself once he'd stuttered. He sat back in his chair, and sighed, but he pushed the feelings away immediately. Pansy had chosen Luka, and that was all well and good because that was for the better. He didn't need to come apart like a little girl, and start crying or something. The night before, when he'd yelled too loudly near an elderly patron, had been enough of a fit. That woman would probably tell all of her friends the owner of Red House was a loon!
But there was more to consider in all of this, and part of that was the fact that he was sitting at a table with his best friend, and the best friend of the woman he loved, and he was actually considering doing as he always did; suppress, ignore, doubt, and forget. Perhaps this was his problem all along, and with this in mind he decided to come out with it, and trust his friends,
"I- I saw her and Luka kiss last night-" Ron admitted after a moment's silence. Harry gave a small gasp at Ron's words, and Draco's eyes went a little wide, "-after we closed the doors. And then they left together…"
"Fuuuuuck…" Harry said in an airy voice.
"Really?" Draco asked, his face twisting into a face that was a mixture of both confusion and disgust. "She told me, not even a month ago, after Harry and Nev's party, that she was ecstatic that the Red House was almost finished so she didn't have to see Luka anymore! She loathes that tosser!"
"That's what I thought too…" Ron said in a somber voice. It was out, and they were into this topic of conversation, and he wasn't going to hide the fact that he was disappointed. Why else would he care to talk about it if it hadn't hurt his feelings?
"Maybe he used an Imperious on her," Harry suggested.
"Or a love potion," Draco threw in.
"Who used a love potion?" Hermione asked. Ron hadn't noticed her exit the house and walk up to them. She was bare footed, so perhaps she'd used her ninja skills…
"No one," Ron answered quickly. Hermione built his walls with her presence; at least when the topic was women.
"Ron saw Luka kiss Pansy last night," Draco said quickly.
"Ferret!" Ron said loudly to the blonde, who shrugged at him impassively.
"Well, that is going to kill this article in the Prophet…" Hermione said as she threw that morning's issue of the Prophet at Ron, the paper open to the front page, where a large expose on the Red House's Grand Opening blared with pictures, and quotes. Ron was happy with the amazing reviews, but he didn't understand what the fuck any of it had to do with Pansy.
"I don't-" Ron stopped, and looked up to Hermione in confusion. She rolled her eyes, and said,
"Page two."
Ron ignored her sassy tone as he turned the page, where there was a rather large photo of Ron and Pansy from the night before, where they both faced the camera with smiles. There were three small photos below it; one was a picture like the first where they stood side by side and talked to each other shortly before they turned to one another and grinned; the look of comfort on their faces unmistakably those of two idiots in love. Another one of the smaller photos was that of the two of them standing side-by-side as the first wall of the Red House had been put up, their arms touching as they shielded their eyes from the sun, and looked on.
The last picture was taken at Axis, on her birthday, showing the two leaning in close to each other at the bar, glasses in their hands, and Pansy's free hand coming up to hit him lightly on the shoulder before throwing her head back in laughter. The worst part was the title for the article; "England's Most Eligible Bachelor May Not Hold Title Long!", and the subtext that accompanied it, "Is Ron Weasley Bedding His Chef?" He was sure Pansy was going to fly off of her broom at this… It hadn't even been 20 hours since they opened the doors and there were already going to be the same rumors following her in England as there were in Italy about her and Santo.
The Weasley man threw the paper on the table, and scowled as the images played over and over in his mind. 'It's so bloody obvious!' Ron thought in a panic. 'What the fuck are we going to do?!'
"Where was that bottom picture taken?" Harry asked, since he had taken it upon himself to grab the paper from the table, and look at the article with his husband.
"A night club named Axis," Draco answered.
How he knew this, Ron didn't want to know. Had Pansy told her BFF that they'd gone out? Did he know that it was to no carnal avail? Did they go that deeply into conversations about Ron, or did Draco act the same way about Ron and Pansy as Ron did about him and Harry? Or did Draco want her to sleep with Ron so he could have the measurements of his prick? The blonde liked to talk about Ron's bollocks far too often, and the red-head began to wonder about the Slytherin's motives…
Ron was going through a lot right now, and this whole article shite didn't help a thing!
"Yeah," Ron said with a nod, "She asked me to meet her there, right? I took your advice, Harry, and I owled her to ask if I could apologize in person. She sends me a snarky reply, and says she'll meet me at that club, and I buy drinks and we talk, and then we part ways. But get this? It was her birthday, and she didn't tell me until last night!"
Hermione, who had looked rather pleased at the thought of Ron and Pansy going out to drinks, looked abashed by the end. She yelled, "She asks you out for drinks on her birthday and you didn't shag her?! You're an arsehole, Ron!"
"Birthday shags matter, Weasley," Draco added matter-of-factly.
"I'm aware! Thank you!" Ron had already been on one hell of a roller-coaster that morning. "But I wasn't aware of the fact that she wanted that!" Ron was a gentleman… and a scholar… "And, as I mentioned, I wasn't aware it was her birthday! Merlin!"
"Of course she wanted that! Birthday or no! Get a grip, Ronald Weasley!" Having kids had made Hermione "Granmalpot" looney, or something, because she was shrieking already as she continued, "If you spend any more of your time on this planet being a complete nimrod, I am going to twist your fucking spine! You waited way too fucking long in confessing your love for me, and now you're going to do the same thing to Pansy?! She deserves better than that, so get off of your arse, out of my bloody house, and over to Red House before I spend any more time on your life!"
Ron, who was getting angry with the woman, not only for her tone but for imposing on his life as she always seemed to do, yelled back, "I didn't ask you to "take care" of this for me! And, if you want to know, I saw her leave with Luka last night after he kissed her! It doesn't bloody matter what you think I should do because nothing is going to happen now!"
"It doesn't matter what you bloody think, Ronald!" Hermione spat back. "She doesn't even like that prick! If anything happened between them, it's because you let it! How many times does this have to happen to you before you to realize what you're doing?!
"I've spent the last few months with you renting far too much space in my conscious mind. Did you know that I have five children? And you're here crying because you're a daft, bloody sissy? Get out of my house, Ronald Weasley! Out! Get the fuck out and go tell Pansy you love her! Before I go tell your mother to do it! Do you know how bloody happy she would be if I gave her the "green light", so to speak, for her to go ahead and tell Pansy for you? She'd start planning the wedding the second-"
Ron didn't hear what was left of Hermione's rant, because he'd stood up, fully intending on getting the fuck out, and did so. He closed the door to the back yard with a slam, and made for the floo. It took him a minute to decide where to go- returning to Hermione and yelling at her for being a harpy who ran everything in everyone's life- even his mother's, apparently- being an option- before he grabbed the powder, threw it into the flames, stepped in and said,
"The Burrow."
-()-()-()-()-()-
"Do you think he's going to do it?" Harry asked as he, his wife, and his husband sat staring at the back door of the Manor.
"Perhaps…" Draco said, acting as if he didn't care, though he hoped all would work out for the best. Pansy was his family, after all, and Ron was somewhere close to that.
"He bloody better!" Hermione was still yelling, and, yes, it was still directed at Ron. "Do you know how hard it was for me not to drop the hint of her birthday?! I almost owled him, but then he'd know I was snooping, and that I knew he fancied her, and he'd probably figure out that I use Legilimency on him when he stares off into space, and then this entire plan would have blown up in face! Boom!"
"Do you think we should go find them?" Harry asked after a second, ignoring his wife's ranting, yet again. He was too bloody high for this. "Maybe make sure no one dies? You know how Ron gets when he feels… passionate… I knew this was going to go badly, pumpkin."
"No," Draco said, putting his hand on his wife's arm. Hermione looked like she was about to dissaparate. Luckily, he stopped her, and she looked to the blonde as he finished, "It will work itself out. You two need to stop meddling where you don't belong... Merlin! You'd think you'd have learned how to control it by now! And you're giving Ron shite for not learning a lesson!" Hermione scowled, and Harry shrugged/nodded his agreeance to Draco's words, before the blonde finished, "Besides, nobody has time for that! Not today! We're due at St. Mungo's, and I still have to brush Vivica's hair since I can't do so with magic, because my wife likes to control everything around her!"
Hermione crossed her arms, glared at the blonde- sobering him instantly- and he nodded before standing, saying, "I think I left the hairbrush in the third bathroom."
-()-()-()-()-()-
Ron stepped from the fire and into the newly decorated, and extended, living room of his childhood home, still angry with his ex and her words. He had made a mistake in asking the Malters for advice, and instead should have asked the one person with infinite knowledge on the subject at hand.
"Dad!" Ron yelled as he walked towards the kitchen.
"We're in here, darling!" Molly called from the stove. Arthur sat at the table, reading the Prophet, an empty plate of food sitting before him on the table. Molly left her station and moved to give Ron a big hug, which he took and returned. "It's so good to see you, darling! Last night was such a smash! I haven't had that much fun, or good food, in ages! We're coming back tonight. I've already told your father, and he agrees.
"He says," Molly continued as she stepped back to the range, and Ron sat at the table across from his father, "that if you don't marry Pansy soon, he will!" Molly and Arthur had gone looney in their old age. Ron used to think Dumbledore was the craziest old coot he'd ever met, but his mom and dad were now the new title holders.
Ron could only roll his eyes, before groaning and saying, "Is my love life that only thing anyone can talk about right now?! You're all going to chase Pansy away! Well!" Ron stopped, and then groaned again before he leaned back in his chair and covered his face with his hands. "Shite! I've already chased her away. She left the restaurant with someone else last night."
"Well, Witch Weekly is going to have one hell of a time if that's the case," Molly interjected as she made a plate of food for herself- she didn't like blood sausage as much as she used to, like Arthur still did- and Ron sighed heavily.
"The thing that all of you seem ready to avoid is the fact that I'm her boss! This could potentially fuck up so many things!"
"Language!" Molly scolded with a frown as she sat down next to him at the table. Ron stole a piece of bacon. "And you won't ever know until you try, Ron. What if she is the one for you? What if you're passing up a once in a lifetime opportunity because she went home with some other bloke last night! You act like I never went home with any other man than your father!"
"Gross," Ron interjected, whereas Arthur shrugged behind his paper.
"Ron! If you don't do anything about this, you're going to die with a hairy heart!"
"Mum!" Ron said with a frown. "I'm not six anymore! Lay off the bedtime stories!"
"But it's true!" His mother continued, "You've had your heart locked in a chest, hidden away from every witch for so long, I'm afraid you're going to die alone and miserable…"
"Mum," Ron began again, rubbing his fingers along his aching temple, "I'm going to be just fine."
"Son," Arthur said suddenly, sternly, looking up from his paper and drawing his son's avid attention, "You sound like an idiot. Listen to your mother. Women know these things about the heart. If your mother says so, if Hermione says so-"
"Your sister also says so," Molly quipped.
"- then just do it, already. Life is short, Ron! I have..!" Arthur put the paper down, looked up to a spot on the ceiling and said, "… thirteen grandchildren!" Ron didn't correct him as he looked back to his youngest son, "And I have no idea when that happened! It will all be over before you know it, and you're still sitting on your hands about a beautiful witch who obviously has similar interests, and who obviously fancies you!" Arthur spun the paper around, and shoved the picture of Ron and Pansy staring, smiling, at each other, in his face. "I am going to have to side with the women, and tell you to get out of my house, son. Go talk to her now, before you die with a hairy heart… My heart is as smooth as a baby's bottom."
"Ok!" Ron yelled in exasperation. Everyone in his family knew, and they were all pushing him, and no one cared that he was scared! He didn't want to be rejected by Pansy. Not ever. It was easier if he rejected her, and kept her at arm's length, so that later- when things got hectic, or they fought, or they grew stale- Ron didn't have to be second best to somebody else. That had always been Ron's base issue; the fact that he always felt inferior, second best, second rate, old cheese, in comparison to some of the most important people in his life.
"I'll- I'll talk to her," Ron finally said, knowing that if both of his parents felt the same way, it was probably the best course of action. But how would everything work out afterward? Would it ruin everything they'd worked so hard to build? "I just hope that it doesn't ruin anything."
"Oh, son," Molly said with a small smile and sigh, perhaps even an eye roll, "You're ruining it already… Now get the bloody hell out of here! And you best go talk to that girl!"
-()-()-()-()-()-
Ron took a deep breath before he walked into the kitchen, painstakingly aware of the fact that he could potentially ruin his life forever by admitting what he was about to to Pansy, but also aware of the fact that his mother and Hermione would ruin his life forever if he didn't do so first. The only reason he listened to Mrs. Malter was probably the same reason everyone else did; she was a stone cold fox, who was deadly as hell, and you didn't want to go against anything she said.
Thankfully, as Ron had expected, the kitchen was empty at ten o'clock in the morning, aside from the one person that he was looking for. She stood with her back mostly to him, at the far prep table used for baking, icing a chocolate cake with light pink icing. For a moment, he stood and watched her as she worked, not quite sure of how he was supposed to say what he knew he had to, before he took a calming breath, and walked up to her as calmly as possible.
"Good morning," he said to her, and she jumped lightly before turning to look up at him. She smiled brightly at him, and said,
"Morning! I'm glad you made it in before lunch. Now we can talk numbers." She turned back to her cake and continued working, adding, "Sorry I didn't stick around last night-" Ron's mind went back to the memory of the night before- the reason she hadn't stuck around- and his mood dampened instantaneously, "- but we're both here now, so we might as well bite the curse."
Ron remained silent for a few moments, wherein a red flag went up, and he tried to repress his feelings as best as possible, before responding, "Yeah. Cool." He turned away from her, intent on going to his office, already riding a high emotional roller-coaster that was bound to come down eventually.
He, once again, decided to curse Hermione, perhaps even his mother! Finding Pansy and telling her how he felt at work was not the best idea! He probably should have stayed home, and dealt with it in his own time.
"What's the matter with you?" Pansy asked his retreating back. He stopped near the end of the table and looked back at her; her dark brows drawing together as she frowned up at him in confusion. Ron didn't know if he should tell her about the Prophet article, or the fact that he saw her kiss Luka and that it had pissed him off; or that he was still pissed off.
So he decided to lie…
"Nothing," He hoped he sounded convincing, and she gave him a look that said he hadn't.
"Right…" Pansy said, shaking her head, and turned back to the cake. "I guess we're only co-workers, so I won't ask you about yourself. If this doesn't have anything to do with work, I don't want to hear about it anyway. Accio raspberries." She reached up with her left hand, without looking up from icing with her right, and caught the strainer of fruit and set it beside the cake on the table. Her face looked squished with annoyance.
That annoyed Ron.
"I'm sure you don't," he grumbled. "I knew I was wasting my time…" He turned away from her once more, but before he could take two step he heard Pansy say sternly,
"Accio knife seven!"
Ron stopped mid-step, and he spun on his heel to face her yet again; the glares the two held were unmistakably filled with heated anger- the months of pent-up emotions roiling, boiling, on the surface of their features- but their eyes held much more than just anger. So much more, that both of them froze with faces of mild shock for a second or two as they both registered the meaning of Pansy brandishing the butcher knife, then they turned back to anger as they continued to hold each other's gaze. She didn't lift the knife, or wield it as a weapon, or slam it blade down onto the table, but even still, Ron didn't need to ask what she meant by her gesture.
Once he grabbed his bearings, he folded his arms over his chest with a deep frown, and said coolly, "Honestly, Parkinson? We're coworkers... I'm not showing you my cock."
Ron hated Pansy's spiteful giggles...
He fucking hated them!
He hated Pansy's boisterous giggles…
He fucking- hated them!
He hated Pansy's "innocent" giggles…
He fucking-
… You get the picture…
However, never had he had the pleasure of hearing the three squished into one sardonic chuckle/giggle... He- liked it!
"Oh, come now, Won- Won-" Ron threw up in his mouth a little, because she knew about Lavender, "- you don't have to lie to me… You want to show me your cock."
Ron's face did that red thing that he hated… that- she liked. He tried to cool himself down- he tried to meditate like crazy Hermione- while keeping his eyes open and staring at Pansy; his chest heaving.
But it was in vain.
He was pissed that she said that to him, because it was true. He hated that she knew that, and that she'd said it out loud, and that he had to be the dumb shite to even walk into it! He knew how she liked to play… Dirty!
'Poor choice of words…'
"You know- I-" Ron started, beginning to feel himself boiling over at the fact that he wanted to yell at her and kiss her, all to relieve his heart cramping; the feeling similar to that of heartstrings being tugged, "- I saw Luka kiss you last night." She froze at this, all malice leaving her as she looked up at him with softened features; her jaw going slack along with her shoulders. He noticed the change, but continued,
"And it- really bothered me… Because I've started to-"He hated that his chest felt like it did when Ginny punched him in it, but worse,"- I started to actually enjoy your company. And I started to-" he licked his lips and put his hand through his hair, "-anticipate seeing you again. And the grand opening was made that much better- twice so- because you were here too!
"I don't know when all of this dragon shite turned into me feeling this way about you! All I know is that it started with me noticing the fact that you don't look bad in Muggle clothes- spectacular actually- and then just started wondering who you were as a person, and then it turned into me wanting to know anything about you! I - I wanted to ask you what your favorite food was, but I thought it too personal a question, even if you know that mine is chicken!" Ron was yelling now, which may have been a bad thing… "Then, I started to like it when you laughed, because I hate your laugh- or… I used to!" His voice got even louder now, and he began to ramble, and rattle off every word that came into his head… which was really, really bad. "And, if I would have had my way, I would have torn that fucking dress that Hermione put you in last night off, and covered you in crème brulee so that I could hear the noises you make when I lick it off.
"But all of that is "too personal", and it crosses boundaries we aren't supposed to cross! And that mattered- that it was all too personal- because I already felt like I was shite for going to your house unannounced and being all- creepy! And for making you feel like you weren't welcome around the people who just so happen to be our family! And for starting that bloody food fight! I knew I had crossed so many boundaries by doing that, and I am so sorry for all of it! I wanted to owl you, so many bloody times, and beg you to forgive me, but I didn't want you to get angrier at me for saying something that would let you know how much I care about you!
"And it's not because I'm your boss and I shouldn't, but because I know how you feel about how people like to see you and your relationship with Santo; and also because I figured you would never want to have anything to do with me because I'm a total fucking cock-sucker who's insensitive and says too much! But! Honestly?! I never learn! Because I can't help but say that when I watched Luka follow you home last night, I almost followed that git and killed him, but I didn't because I have no right to! And I don't care if you know that I got angry because I was jealous, because it should have been me who went home with you last night! I fucking love you, Pansy! I should have said so before I lost you to fucking Luka! But, like I said, I never bloody learn!"
In the silence that followed the end of Ron's rant, knife seven slipped from the stunned witch's hand, hit the floor with a resounding "clang", and then disappeared.
A/N: Woot woot woot woot woot woot woot woot woot woooooooooo! What happens next?
A/N: I started a new fic! It's a Drarry!Western named "I've Been Through the Desert". Check it out if you're interested. :)
(Hey Joe)
Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun of yours?
Hey Joe, I said where you goin' with that gun in your hand, oh
I'm goin' down to shoot my old lady
You know I caught her messin' 'round with another man